CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(Monographs) 


] 


ICMH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographles) 


Canadian  Inathuta  for  Historical  Mlcronproductlona  /  Institut  Canadian  da  mieroraproductlona  htetoriqiiaa 


995 


} 


Tachniol  and  BtMofrapMc  Notn  /  Netn  uchniqiMt  M  WMioffapliiqiMi 


TIM  Imtltut*  hn  atmiipMd  to  eiNwi  Hm  b«t  orifinal 
copy  mailaWa  <er  filming.  Fntunt  e<  this  copy  wMdi 
iMy  bt  btWiotraphially  uniqiit,  wMdi  nuy  ator  any 
of  tlw  imagH  in  Dm  rapcoduetion,  or  wMch  may 
significantly  ehanta  tha  usyal  nwthod  of  filmlnf,  an 


L'lnttitut  a  miemf  iloi*  l«  maillaur  axamplain  qH'il 
loiaMpooibladaiaprocurar.  Lai  dtoilt  da  cat 
axamplaira  qui  lont  pawt-ttra  iiniquai  du  point  da  tua 


rapraAiita.  ou  qui  paunnt  axigar  una  modification 
dant  la  fflMnda  normala  da  f  ilmaga  lont  indiqv^t 


0Colouiad  coaan/ 
Couvartufa  da  eo< 

r~~|  CoMndamagad/ 


□  Colourad  pagat/ 
Rigat  da  coulaur 


n; 


□  CoMn  rttofftd  Mid/er  laminalHl/ 
Couvcrtura  rtttMirte  vt/ou  pttliwiHt 


D 


La  titra  da  eouoartura  manqua 


D 


Carm  giographtqiiai  an  eoulMir 


QColourtd  ink  (U.  othar  than  bkia  or  Macfc)/ 
Enora  da  coiilaur  (i.a.  autra  911a  Matia  ou  noira) 


0 


Colound  plain  and/or  illustratiom/ 
Planchat  at/ou  illustrations  an  coulaur 

Bound  with  othar  malarial/ 
Ralii  avac  d'autrat  doeumanis 


□  Tight  binding  may  eau> 
along  iniarior  margin/ 

La  raliura  sarria  paut  causar  da  I'omtara  ou  da  la 
distorsion  la  long  da  la  marga  intiriaura 

□  Blank  laaoas  addad  during  rastoratioo  may  appaar 
within  tha  UXL  Whanaiar  poaaibia,  thaaa  haaa 
baan  omittad  from  filming/ 
II  ta  paut  qua  cartaina*  pagas  Wancha*  ajoutiaa 
km  d'una  rastauration  apparaissant  dam  la  taxta, 
mais,  lorsqua  cala  ttait  poasiMa.  oas  pagas  n'ont 
pas  M  fihnias. 


□  hgn  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Pagas  rastaurias  at/ou  palllcuWai 

E  Pagas  discolourad.  stiinad  or  faxad/ 
Pagas  dieotorto.  taclHIias  ou  piqufas 

□  Pagas  datachad/ 
Pagn  d*tach*as 

0Showthrough/ 
Transparanca    ' 

□  Quality  of  print  varias/ 
Qualiti  inigala  da  I'imprastion 

□  Continuous  pagination/ 
Pagination  continue 

Qlndudas  indax(as)/ 
Comprand  un  (das)  indax 

Titia  on  haadar  takan  from:/ 
La  titra  da  I'an-Uta  proniant: 


li>raisan 


□  TitIa  paga  of  issua, 
Paga  da  titra  da  la 

|~~j  Caption  of  iautl 


n 


Titra  da  dtpart  da  la  liwaison 


Q 


Additional eommants:/  Pages  nholly  obscured  by 

Commantairas  suppltmantairas:  posalbla  image. 


Mnirkiua  (piriodiquasi  da  la  livraison 
tissues  have  been  refOmed  to  ensure  the  best 


This  item  is  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  dieckad  bahm/ 
Ca  document  est  film*  au  taux  da  riduction  indiqui  ei^dassous. 
IOX  14X  IgX 


ax 


w 


I2X 


2ax 


24X 


2IX 


Tha  eopv  Mmad  hara  Iim  bawi  raprodusad  thanks 
ta  tha  ganaraaity  o<: 

BiMiotMqiM  «Mnl«, 

UnlvwtltfLml, 


L'axamplaira  fliin*  fut  raprodult  grtea  i  la 
0*n«raait«  da: 


Tha  imagai  appaaring  hara  an  tha  baat  quality 
poasibia  eenaldaring  tha  eandldan  and  lagibillty 
af  tha  arlglnal  copy  and  In  haaping  with  tha 


Original  eoplaa  In  printad  papar  eawara  ara  Wmad 
bagbining  with  tha  front  eevar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  Hhistiatad  Impraa- 
slon,  or  tho  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  capias  ara  fllmad  baglnning  an  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  Hhntratad  impraa- 
slon.  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  prfaitad 
or  Wuatratad  Impraaslon. 


Tha  laat  nt  .rdad  frama  an  aaeh  mleroficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  •-^  Imsaning  "CON- 
TINUf  0"l.  or  tha  symbol  ▼  Imaaning  ~ENO"). 
wMclMvar  appllas. 


Las  Imagas  suhrantas  ant  tu  rapreduitas  avac  la 
pitis  grsnd  sein,  eompM  tsnu  ds  Is  condition  st 
do  la  natiati  da  |-a«amplalra  film*,  st  an 
oonformM  avae  laa  eanditlons  du  contrst  da 
tttmaga. 

Las  sxsmplaiios  ariglnaini  dont  la  eouvortura  an 
papiar  aat  imprim4a  sont  fHmte  sn  eommsn^snt 
par  is  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminani  soit  par  Is 
danMra  paga  qui  compertaun-  nmprainta 
dimpraasion  ou  dlHustrstion,  s^.  i  psr  la  sacond 
plat,  saian  la  caa.  Tous  las  autrav  axamplairas 
eriglnawi  sunt  fNnids  sn  Gomman«ant  par  la 
pramMra  paga  qui  eemporta  una  amprsints 
dimpraasion  ou  dlNuatrstian  at  an  tarmlnant  par 
la  danMra  paga  qui  eomporta  una  talla 
pmpralnta. 

Un  das  symboiaa  suivsnts  apparahra  sur  la 
damUra  Imaga  da  chaqua  mleroficha.  salon  la 
eas:  la  symbala  — »  slgnifis  "A  SUIVRE".  la 
aymboia  V  aignifia  "FIN". 


IMaiM.  plataa.  charts,  stc.,  may  ba  fllmad  at 
diffarant  raduetion  ratios.  Thoso  too  iarga  to  ba 
antiraiy  includad  in  ona  asposurs  ara  fllmad 
baglnning  In  tha  uppar  laft  hand  comor.  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framaa  as 
raqulrad.  Tha  following  diagrams  mustrata  tha 


Laa  cartas,  pisnchas,  taMaaux.  ate.,  pauvant  ttra 
fllmta  t  daa  taus  da  rMuctlon  diff«rancs. 
Lorsqus  Is  documsm  sst  trop  grsnd  pour  itro 
raprodult  an  un  saul  clieh«.  II  ast  film*  *  partir 
da  I'angia  supMaur  gaucha.  da  gauchs  t  droita. 
at  da  haut  an  bas.  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'Imagas  ndesssaira.  Las  disgrsmmsa  suivanu 
Hhntrant  la  mMioda. 


1  2  3 


6 


MKXocorr  hioiution  ibt  chait 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHAKT  No.  2) 


^  /IPPLIED   IIVUCE      Ini 

^^  1653  Eait  iitain  Straet 

r.J  «cieh«l«r,  N*«  York        1*609      USA 

^  (716)  482  -  0300  -  Phon. 

^  (716)  288-3989  -Fa- 


KXTRA-ILLUSTBATEO  EDITION 

VOLUME  43 

THE  CHRONICLES 

OP  AMERICA  SERIES 

ALLEN  JOHNSON 

EDITOR 

GERHARD  R.  I.OHER 

CHARLES  W.  JEPFERYS 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 


:1. 


ISK 


v.aaMo 


■i-iol  W9/  .tUHt  vJiD  ,^  ol"  '.aarii^, 
itoi  ma  Jo  ^)iD:«)i  % ^S 


lo  ^jDqofl 
fftqbimiM 


THE  BOSS 
AND  THE  MACHINE 

A  CHRONICLE  OF  THE  POLITICIANS 

AND  PARTY  ORGANIZATION 

BY  SAMUEL  P.  ORTH 


NEW  HAVEN:   YALE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

TORONTO:   GLASGOW,    BROOK   <i   CO. 

LONDON:    HUMPHREY    MILFORD 

OXFORD    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

1020 


Copyright.  1919.  hy  Yale  Vnvoerrity  Pr^ 


t 


^ 

^ 


CONTENTS 


L    THE  RISE  OP  THE  PABTY 
n.    THE  RISE  O^  THE  MACHINE 
m.    THE  TIDE  OF  MATERIALISM 
IV.    THE  POLITICIAN  AND  THE  CITY 
V.    TAMMANY  HALL 
VL    LESSER  OUGARCHIES 
VIL    LEGISLATIVE  OMNIPOTENCE 
VHL    THE  NATIONAL  HIERARCHY 
DC.    THE  AWAKENING 
X.    PARTY  REFORM 
XI.    THE  EXPERT  AT  LAST 
BIBUOGRAPBICAL  NOTE 
INDEX 


Pk|«  1 

"  1» 

"  M 

"  H 

"  « 

"    as 

"   ii« 

"  I8S 

"  MO 

"  1«I 

"  178 

"  Wl 

"  1»7 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


HUmN  TAN  BtJBBN 

FkiatlBf  by  Bnry  bmu,  1828.  la  tlw  CHr 
BdLNiwYork.  Ftomrty a( thk Conxintioo. 
Rqmxhieed  bjt  oourtaqr  of  tU  HunidiMl  Art 
CHUuWonaftlwCitjrofNcwYork.  nrntiiritot 

OB  WITTCUNTON 

Enfnviag  bjr  A.  B.  Durand  tftar  •  (Misting  hf 
duriwCIniriiuii.  Faeinif,,  u 

AABON  BURR 

Pen  dnwing  tftcr  *  pninting  by  J.  Vandyke 
fa  the  poweiiion  ot  the  l«te  E.  A.  Dayclnnek.        " 


WILUAM  H.  TWEED.    Engraving. 

THE  FIRST  TAMMANY  HALT,  PARK  ROW 

AND  BEEKBIAN  STREET.    Photograph  talun 

about  1870. 

MATTHEW  S.  QUAY.    Photograph. 
RICHARD  CROKEB.    Photograph. 
GEORGE  B.  COX.    Photograph. 

THE  TWEED  RING 

Cartoon  by  llMnaa  Naat,  in  ffofjMr'a  WteUm, 
Angnit  IS^  18T1. 

A  GROUP  OP  VULTURES  WAITING  TOR 
THE  STORM  TO  "BLOW  OVER."— "LET  US 
PREY" 

Cartoon  by  Thomaa  Naat.  in  Barpir't  WtMm. 
September  Itt  1871. 


<4 


"       -       « 


m 


tto 


THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINE 


CHAFTEBI 

THB  mam  of  tbb  pabtt 

IThb  party  (yitem  is  an  eneatial  iutniment  of 
iDemocraAy.    Wherever  government  retti  upon 
■the  popular  will,  there  the  party  is  the  oigan  of 
lexpreMion  and  the  agency  of  the  ultimate  power. 
iThe  party  is,  moreover,  a  forenumer  of  Democ- 
hacy,  for  parties  have  everywhere  preceded  free 
Igovemment.    Long  brfore  Democracy  as  now 
lunderstood  was  anywhere  established,  long  before 
jthe  American  colonies  became  the  United  Stat;^, 
lEngland  was  divided  between  Tory  and  Whig 
*nd  it  was  only  after  centuries  of  bitter  political 
rife,  during  which  a  change  of  ministry  would 
not  infrequently  be  accompanied  by  bloodshed 
or  voluntary  exile,  that  England  finaUy  emerged 


fi  I 


M ; 


< ' 


I 


*  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

The  functions  of  the  partv  hnth  .      < 
and  aj.  »  n«^  ^^'^'  ^^  "  '  forerunner 

and  as  a.  necessary  organ  of  Democracy  a«.  w-n 
exemphfied  in  American  ^^xoenJTZ'J^  f 
Revolution,  Tory  and  mi!T  Before  the 

in  ti.-     I    •  *  ''^^  Pwty  names  used 

u»  the  colonies  to  desimate  in  .  ^     i 

MeaJs  of  political  dS     Th    t  "  •    ''*^  *''° 
in  ♦!,  "ocinne.     The  Tories  believed 

drove  the  Whi«  in  th»     ,."«'"*  ^^.  soon 
c  "uigs  m  the  coloiues  to  revnh  —  j  k 

the  time  of  the  Stamp  Act  rimT         ^1    ^ 

party  of  colom'al  pa3,11  ^       \  *  ''•^■'^* 

Bevoi„t.-onL;'::i;,f-^^^»><^^  ««« 
ista    A.  „i         r  **  became  the  Loyal- 

theDech«.tion„7m6\tfrr  '^'■*^••'"- 
it««.useandhads^itC     ^^'^^- 
Immediately  thereafter  a  new  issue  »n  J 


I' 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  PARTY  s 

the  people.  The  Articles  of  Ck)iifederation.  adopted 
u  a  form  of  government  by  the  Stetes  during  a 
luU  in  the  nationalistic  fervor,  had  utterly  failed 
to  perform  the  f  uncUons  of  a  national  government. 
Financially  the  Confederation  was  a  beggar  at  the 
doors  of  the  States;  commercially  it  was  impotent- 
politically  it  was  bankrupt.    The  new  issue  was' 
the  formation  of  a  national  government  that  should 
in  reality  represent  a  federal  nation,  not  a  collec- 
tion of  touchy  States.   Washington  in  his  farewell 
letter  to  the  American  people  at  the  close  of  the 
war  (1783)  urged  four  consideraUons:  a  strong 
central  government,  the  payment  of  the  national 
debt,  a  well-organized  militia,  and  the  surrender 
by  each  State  of  certain  local  privileges  for  the 
good  of  the  whole.    His  "legacy,"  as  this  letter 
came  to  be  called,  thus  bequeathed  to  us  National- 
ism, fortified  on  the  one  hand  by  Honor  and  on 
the  other  by  Preparedness. 

The  Confederation  floundered  in  the  slough  of 
inadequacy  for  several  years,  however,  before  the 
people  were  suflSciently  impressed  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  federal  government.  When,  finallj, 
through  the  adroit  maneuver  of  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton and  James  Madison,  the  Constitutional 
Convention  was  called  in  1787,  the  people  were  in 


m 


r;fi 


1    ■' 


*  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

«.omewlb.t  chastened  mood,  and  delegate.  we« 
«nt  to  the  Convention  from  aU  th-  «♦  * 
Rhode  Island.  '""»«"«•«  States  except 

t'>»thetroT^n,:r'';"«°«-. 

-ealed.  the  naSt  T     the  C  "^" 
represented   by  the   V^  Particulanst. 

rede.l.ts.asCatrrrthrsei::tJ 

"rrdS^rrsrrr^-'^— 

work  contained  in  a  W  "^'^   '""  '^'^^^'^ 

^^.atcompro:;^:;-— -^^e..^ 

^-rri-roH^fLr^^^^^ 

who  feaJT!;  U      °'^**-'"'Wer  or  politician, 

«over:rtr,di;rhL"ir.%'^"^- 

-d  the  popular  de^'^le       °    "•  '"'"^'''*' 
suspicion  all  evidence  „T.  '"^'"^  ^'*'> 

was  these  two  tZ        •^'^'''^ ''"*^°»*y-    ^ 

eonscien'urobS  'T  ,'"  "  '""""-'^^ 
Federalist  party  to  ^'~"t     ™"'  '""^  ^"*'- 

newConstitS^'Vrni         "'°'''°''  °'  *^« 
Had  this  opposition  been  well 


in 


THE  KISE  OP  THE  PAETY  a 

organized,  it  could  unquesUonably  have  defeated 
the  Constitution,  even  against  its  brilliant  pro- 
tagonists, Hamilton,  Madison,  Jay.  and  a  score 
of  other  masterly  men. 

The  unanimous  choice  of  Washington  for  Presi- 
dent gave  the  new  Government  a  non-partizan 
mitiation.    In  every  way  Washington  attempted 
to  foster  the  spirit  of  an  un<?-vided  household. 
He    warned    his    countrymen  against  partizan- 
ship  and    inister  political  societies.    But  he  caU- 
ed  around  his  council  board  talents  which  re- 
presented    incompatible   ideals    of  government. 
Thomas  Jefferson,  the  first  Secretary  of  State 
and  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  first  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  might  for  a  time  unite  their  energies 
under  the  wise  chieftainship  of  Washington,  but 
theu-  political  principles  could  never  be  merged 
And  when,  finally,  Jefferson  resigned,  he  became 
forthwith  the  leader  of  the  opposition -not  to 
Washington,  but  to  Federalism  as  interpreted  by 
Hamilton,  John  Adams,  and  Jay. 

The  name  Anti-Federalist  lost  its  aptness  after 
the  inauguration  of  the  Government.  Jefferson 
and  his  school  were  not  opposed  to  a  federal 
government.  They  were  opposed  only  to  its  pre- 
tensions, to  its  assumption  of  centralized  power. 


,1 


■  !f 


I'' 


,   ,1/ 
■  ill 


«  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

Their  deep  faith  in  pop,  kr  cental  is  «,vealed  in 
the  n«ne  they  a«umed.  Democratic-Republican. 
They  were  eager  to  lindt  the  federal  power  to  the 
glorification  of  the  Stat«.  tl.«  w^      v 
i.«.k,t-        .  •  *^^  Federalists  were 

^.tious  to  «p«nd  the  federal  power  at  the 
^^oflocalism.    This  is  what  Jefferson  meant 
wh«.  he  wrote  to  Washington  as  early  as  17M. 
The  Repubhcan  party  wish   to  p«serve  the 
Government  «  .ts  p,«^nt  form."    Now  this  is 
a  v«yde&ute  and  fundamental  distinction.    It 
mvo  v«  the  political  difference  between  govern 
ment   by  the  people  and  government  ^  ^e 
^presentauves  of  the  people,  and  tiie  pritical 
difference  between  a  government  by  law  and  a 
government  by  mass-meeting.  ^     ^  «»«1  » 

Jefferson  was  a  master  orgamW.  At  letter- 
wnting.  the  one  means  of  communication  in  those 
d«y«^e  was  a  Hercules.  His  pen  never  wean'^ 
He  soon  had  a  compact  party.  It  included  not 
o^y  most  of  tile  Anti-Pederalists.  but  tiie  sma 
politicians,  the  tradesmen  and  artisans,  who  had 

w^^tiiemselvesintoaridiculousfrenzyovert:^ 
W  Revolution  and  who  despised  Washington 
orhisnobleneutrality.    But  mo«  than  thes^^f. 

had  worked  for  the  adoption  of  die  Constitution. 


THE  RBB  OF  THE  PABTY  7 

the  ablest  of  whom  was  James  Madison,  often  called 
"the  Father  of  the  Constitution." 

The  J^ersonians,  thus  Tq)resenting  largely  the 
debtor  and  farmer  class,  led  by  men  of  conspicu- 
ous   abilities,    proceeded    to    batter    down    the 
prestige  of  the  Federalists.    They  declared  them- 
selves opposed  to  large   expenditures  of  public 
funds,  to  eager  exploitation  of  government  ven- 
tures, to  the  Bank,  and  to  the  Navy,  which  they 
termed  "the  great  beast  with  the  great  belly." 
The  Federalists  included  the  commercial  and  credi- 
tor class  and  that  fine  element  in  American  life 
composed  of  leading  families  with  whom  domina- 
tion was  an  instinct,  all  led,  fortunately,  by  a  few 
idealists  of  rare  intellectual  attainments.    And, 
with  the  political  stupidity  often  characteristic  of 
their  class,  they  stumbled  from  blunder  to  blunder. 
In  1800  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  adroitly  coined  the 
mistakes  of  his  opponents  into  political  currency 
for  himself,  was  elected  President.     Hs  had  re- 
ceived no  more  electoral  votes  than  Aaron  Burr, 
that  mysterious  character  in  our  early  politics,  but 
the  election  was  decided  by  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, where,  after  seven  days'balloting,  several 
Federalists,  choosing  what  to  them  was  the  lesser 
of  two  evils,  cast  the  deciding  votes  for  Jefferson. 


?':. 


n 


U  ' 


I 


mi 


'  ™"  ««S  AND  THE  MACHINE 

by  o„^  ^^.^  P"^-;  they  now. 
America  iSSL^  r™"'  "'^^^  '-"'«  « 

eralisfa  w,*K  .Constitution,  while  the  Fed- 

eraJista  with  equal  inconsistency  becam,    I  • 

linked  to  that  of  tl,»        •    .  *""    '"PI^^ 

sition.  The  second  „  •  .  ^^  '^**''*  °PP«- 
doubtful  wTTt  th  '^"^''^"'^  '«"*  ■*  * 

••'«  the  w^^to^'  ^r  """""''*^'^  ^°«''- 
flourished  :  T^  ''5it  w''^""^-  ^«^'' 
P-Hed  to  the  Mississip^lXonT-?''? 

va^tempii.  which  JeffeiSi had  p^^halTm*''' 
eveiyone   is   busv    n«  purcnased.  When 

i^Z,  espelial,7tkr  TL"^  '"'  P«''««' 
diffei^ncerS^^A^r  '^  "P""  PMosophieal 
totheStiW^^^-^^o-^-^ed 

Virginia  Dynasty  "  ^"'^  «  the 

reeling,      which   proved  to  be 


II.  Hi 

pi 


THE  BBE  OF  THE  PARTY  9 

only  the  huah   before  the  tornado.    The  elec- 
tion of  1824  wu  indecitive,  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  was   for   a  second  time  called 
upon  to  decide  the  national  choice.    The  can- 
didates were  John  Quincy  Adams,  Andrew  Jack- 
son, Henry    Clay,   and   William   H.    Crawford. 
Clay  threw  his  votes  to  Adams,  who  was  elect- 
ed, thereby  arousing  the  wrath  of  Jackson  and 
of  the  stalwart  and  irreconcilable  frontiersmen 
who  hailed  him   as  their  leader.    The   Adams 
tenn  merely  marked  a  transition  from  the  old 
order  to  the  new,  from  Jeffe7sonian  to  Jackso- 
nian  democracy.    Then  was  the  word  Republican 
dropped  from  the  party  name,  and  Democrat 
became  an  appellation  of  definite  and  practical 
significance. 

By  this  time  many  of  the  older  States  had 
removed  the  early  restrictions  upon  voting,  and 
the  new  States  carved  out  of  the  West  had  writ- 
ten manhood  suffrage  into  their  constitutions. 
This  new  democracy  flocked  to  its  imperator; 
and  Jackson  entered  his  capital  in  triumph,  fol- 
lowed by  a  motley  crowd  of  frontiersmen  in  coon- 
skm  caps,  farmers  in  butternut-dyed  homespun, 
and  hungry  henchmen  eager  for  the  spoils.  For 
Jackson  had  let  it  be  known  that  he  considered 


"        rae  BOSS  AND  TOE  MACHINE 
iii»  dection  a  nuudate  Ko  ♦!..         • 

"V  jw    WH  tbe  favorite  watchwofd     «... 

the  people,  fop  fa*  insUtutionTfnr  tl. 

of  the  Constitution  and  t  W^  "^"''"'^ 

Bank.      TJ>e  charter  of  the  United   States 


THE  RISE  OP  THE  PARTY  a 

Bank  wu  about  to  expire,  and  iU  fiiend*  lought 
a  renewal.    Jaduon  believed  the  Bank  an  enemy  of 
the  Republic,  as  its  officers  were  anti-Jacksonians, 
and  he  promptiy  vetoed  the  bill  extending  the 
charter.    The  second  issue  was  the  tariff.    Pro- 
tecUon  was  not  new;  but  Clay  adroitly  renamed 
it,  calling  it  "the  American  system."    It  was 
popular  in  the  manufacturing  towns  and  in  por- 
tions of  the  agricultural  communities,  but  was 
bitterly    opposed    by   the   slave-owning   SUtes. 
A  third  issue  dealt  with  internal  improvements. 
All  parts  of  the  country  were  feeling  the  need  of 

better  means  of  communication,  especially  between 
the  West  and  tho  East.  Canals  and  turnpikes 
were  projected  in  every  direction.  Qay,  whose 
imagination  was  fervid,  advocated  a  vast  system 
of  canak  and  roads  financed  by  national  aid.  But 
the  doctrine  of  stotes-rights  answertid  that  the 
Federal  Government  had  no  power  to  enter  a 
State,  even  to  spend  money  on  improvements, 
without  the  consent  of  that  SUte.  And.  at  aU 
events,  for  Clay  to  espouse  was  for  Jackson  to 
oppose. 

These  were  the  more  important  immediate 
iasues  of  the  conflict  between  Clay's  Whigs  and 
Jackson's  Democrats,  though  it    must    be    ac 


«        TOE  BOSS  AND  THBMACHINB 

knowfcdged  that  the  penon JiUe,  of  the  Ie«l« 
were  quite  «  much  u  {„„«  „  "  J^!k  ? 
«^wh.cHthey<^u^.  C^^.^- 
Clr^  to  the  t«k  of  X^^ 

dected  ev«y  Indent  f«>n.  J«i«.n  toSL 
The  exception,  were  Wflliam  Henrv  B«^  J 

Zachaiy  Taylor,  both  of  .C^^^^'^" 

^  their  u,.uguration.    !>,«.  ^h,    ^^^ 
i^sident  succeeded  General  B— • 

t^a-ged    the    Whig.,  ^^f  r^SJT  "^ 
triumph  was  in  X*        T  Democratic 

ofthi^y^l^"*'^*""''""  — P-od 

M^while  however.  «,other  iasue  wa,  d„pim, 
the  destiny  of  parties  and  of  the  nation    T 

evaaed,  that  all  parties  avoid*  '    fi.»*      ui.  . 

;^.  and  that  pr^iaentsreon^r^: 
to  bde  under  the  tenuous  fabricTSfr  ^^^ 
Pronj^es.    But  it  was  an  issue  ti«t  p^I^t 
keeping  alive  and  that  would  not  dTlT  tl 
an  issue  between  rml.*      j  '        '*  ^^ 

ne  died  before  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 


h  Ml 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  PABTY  u 

Kmri  CompromiM  gave  the  death-blow  to  his 
looMy  gathered  coaUtion.  Welwtep,  too.  and 
Calhoun,  the  other  members  of  that  brilliant 
trinity  which  represented  the  genius  of  Con- 
stitutional  Unionism,  of  Stotes-R^hts,  and  of 
Conciliation,  passed  away  before  the  issue  was 
squarely  faced  by  a  new  party  oi^aniced  for 
the  purpose  of  opposing  the  further  expansion 
of  slavery. 

This  new  organif»tion,  the  Republican  party, 
rapidly  assumed  form   and  solidarity.    It  was 
composed   of  Northern   Whigs,   of  anti-slaveiy 
Democrats,  and  of  members  of  several  minor 
groups,  such  as  the  Know-Nothing  or  American 
party,  the  Liberty  party,  and  included  as  well 
some  of  the  despised  Abolitionists.    The  vote 
for  Fr&nont.  its  first  presidential  candidate,  in 
IMe,  showed  it  to  be  n  secUonal  party,  confined 
to  the  North.    But  the  defim'te  recognition  of 
slavery  as  an  issue  by  an  opposition  party  had 
a  profound  effect  upon  the  Democrats.    Their 
Southern  wing  now  promptly  assumed  an  uncom- 
promising attitude,  which,  in  1860,  split  the  party 
into  factions.    The  Southern  wing  named  Breckin- 
ridge;  the  Northern   wing  named   Stephen   A. 
Douglas;  while  many  Democrats  as  well  as  Whigs 


i 
*fi- 


M        IHB  BOBS  AND  ra«M\CHWB 

*^  wftil.  in  •  tUri  party.  cMing  Jt«lf  th. 

^^^^T  "^'^^^ 

«U^.v«y/««.  of  the  North  «d^      *"• 
a.v«y  not  only  «ied  th,  partie.  a^c„«d 

pohtical  hirtoor  th*t  the  Civil  War  dM  nf*  T 

Southern  as  the  Republican  wm  a  No,ti.- 

H«pubh««.  leader,  during  the  day.  ^  ^^ 
trucUon  helped  to  keep  it  ahVe  T  b^  i 
political  heritage  ha.  beep  !,«    •  ""'"' 

/n>mtheCivaT.r^.^JrL^'''''r" 
turn,  the  national  balance  of  „.^  "''*'" 


THE  mSB  07  IBB  PABTY  is 

that  l»v«  divided  them  Uv.  bea  mow  ,pp,wBt 
tlMBieJ.    TIietMii!.tlieclv?l«wvfce.tlietnuU, 
and  the  long  lirt  of  other  "i«uei "  do  not  denote 
fundamental  difference^  but  ooljr  variationa  of 
degree.    Never  in  any  elecUon  during  thii  long 
interval  haa  there  been  definitely  at  itake  a  great 
national  principle,  lave  for  the  currency  iuue  of 
1896  and  the  colonial  question  following  the  War 
with  Spain.    The  revolt  of  the  Progreadvea  in 
18W  had  a  character  of  iti  own;  but  neither  of 
the  old  parties  .quarely  joined  issue  with  the 
Piogressives  in  the  contest  which  followed.    The 
presidential  campa^  rf  1916  afforded  an  <^por. 
tunity  to  place  on  trial  before  the  people  a  great 
cause,  for  there  undoubtedly  existed  then  in  the 
country  two  great  and  opposing  sides  of  pablic 
opmjon— one  for  and  the  other  against  war  with 
Germany.    Here  again,  however,  the  iss»«.  was 
not  joined  but  was  adroitly  evaded  by  both  the 
candidates. 

None  the  less  there  has  been  a  difference  between 
the  two  great  parties.  The  RepubHcan  party  has 
been  avowedly  naUonalistic.  imperialistic,  and  in 
favor  of  a  vigorous  constructive  foreign  poliqr 
The  Democratic  party  has  generally  accepted  the 
lukewarm  international  policy  of  Jrfferson  and  the 


vfi 


:\ 


/  ff 


J«         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

exaltation  of  the  localitv  «n-j  *i.      .  . 

as  championed  l^L^'  Z'^J"'^:'""' 

-^whatintanil'r^aHalM;™!'  J  " 
trinal  distinctions  between  ^luZ^j^J  "^ 
have  survived.  *™"«»»  and  Jefferson 

In  the  emergence  of  new  issues    ««„      _. 
are  bom.    But  it  is  on»    *  T  P"^*' 

acteristics  of    h     1^  "''^'"  *"""- 

third  panics  arl'bor'^'VerL;-^*^'"  ''"' 
-•n'y.as  evangelists.  cry^^'l^^'Z^^l 
^non,.e  gospel  in  the  political  wildcTel     If 

"ro^inaS'^"^"^----^-^ 

Masonic^V /t  112^^  ^.^  ^"- 
-edb^theabduc^-on'^XC^^J^ri: 

the..retsofLj^i:rrS^^;;''>'«>- 

^Pearancewaslaidat'the^^STi- 
Freemasons;  and  it  was  alleged  f)..*  u      ^ 

2rrL^'^.--'-o;::r^:;i 

pubL  ffl  '"n^'"'"''  '^'^  ''^'^  J'^-  unfit  for 
publ^  office.  The  movement  became  impress^; 
-  Pennsylvama.  Vermont.  Massachusetts'^ 


'in 


'i  I 


;■«  Mi 


:i1;rs 


i^rs  of 


f  ! 


THE  BTSE  OF  THE  PARTY  17 

«d  New  York.  It  served  to  introduce  Seward 
and  FiJImore  into  politics.  Even  «  national  party 
was  orgamzed,  and  William  Wirt,  of  Maryland,  a 
distrngmshed  lawyer,  was  nominated  for  Presi- 
dent.    He  received,  however,  only  the  electoral 

vot«  of  Vermont.    The  excitement  soon  cooled, 

and  the  party  disappeared. 
The  American  or  Know-Nothing  party  had  for 

its  Slogan  "America  for  Americans."  and  was  a 

considerable  factor  in  certain  Walides,  especially 

rsi^"-^    r'  ?:  '''''"''  ^'"''''  fr""  ^«-'3  to 
1856.    The  Free  Soil  party,    .pou«ng  the  cause 

of  slavery  restriction,  named  Martin  Van  Buren 

as  Its  presidential  candidate  and  polled  enough 

votes  m  the  election  of  1848  to  defeat  Cass,  the 

Democratic    candidate.      It    did    not    survive 

w/    r*"^!  u     f"'  ''"*  '^^  «"'»•*•«'  Prin«PJe 
was  adopted  by  the  Republican  party 

Since  the  Civil  War.  the  currency  question  has 

tvnce  given  life  to  third-party  movements.    The 

Gr^nbacks  of  1876-1884  and  the  Populists  of 

the  90s  were  both  of  the  West.    Both  earned  on 

for  a  few  years  a  vigorous  crusade,  and  both  were 

absorbed  by  the  older  parties  as  the  currency 

question   assumed    concrete   form    and    became 

a  commanding  political  issue.    Since  1872.  the 


i 


I 


■l|i 


.    !, 


■ff,    '• 


Hi 


18         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINB 

Prohibitionwte    have    named    national    ticket.. 
The«  question,  which  wa.  alway.  dodged  by  the 

dommant  parties,  isnowrapidlynearingawlution. 
The  one  apparenUy  unrecondlable  element  in 
our  pohUcal  life  is  the  socialistic  or  labor  pany. 
Never  of  great  import«,ce  in  any  national  elec- 
tjon.  the  vanous  labor  parties  have  been  of  con- 
siderable mfluence  in  local  politics.    Because  of 

"T't"Je.  the  labor  vote  has  always  been    ' 
courted  by  Democrats  and  Republicans  with  equal 
ardor  but  with  vaiying  success. 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  BI8E  OF  THE  MACHINE 

Ideas  or  principles  alone,  however  eloquenUy  and 
insistently  proclaimed,  will  not  make  a  party. 
There  must  be  oi^ganization.    Thus  we  have  two 
distinct  practical  phases  of  American  party  poli- 
tics:  one  regards  the  party  as  an  agency  of  the 
electorate,  a  necessary  organ  of  democracy;  the 
other,  the  party  as  an  ojganization.  an  army  de- 
termined to  achieve  certain  conquests.     Every 
party  has.  therefore,  two  aspects,  each  attracting 
a  different  kind  of  person:  one  kind  allured  by  the 
principles  espoused;  the  other,  by  tiie  opportuni- 
ties  of  place  and  personal  gain  in  the  organization. 
The  one  kind  typifies  the  body  of  voters;   the 
other  the  dominant  minority  of  the  party. 

When  one  speaks,  then,  of  a  party  in  America,  he 
embraces  in  Uiat  term :  first,  the  tenets  or  platform 
for  which  the  party  assumes  to  stand  (i.e..  princi- 
ples that  may  have  been  wrought  out  of  experience. 

IS 


1     ' 


I- 


iti 

|)  pi;   ,! 


•0         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

may  have  been  created  by  public  opinion,  or  wew 

perhaps  merely  made  out  of  hand  by  manipulators)- 
secondly,  the  voters  who  profess  attachment  to' 
these  principles;  and  thirdly,  the  political  expert, 
the  politiciw,  with  his  organization  or  machine 
Between  the  expert  and  the  great  following  are 
many  gradations  of  party  activity,  from  the  oc- 
casional volunteer  to  the  chieftain  who  devotes 
all  his  time  to  "politics. " 

It  was  discovered  very  early  in  American  experi- 
ence that  without  organization  issues  would  dis- 
mtegrate  and  principles  remain  but  scintillating 
axioms.  Thus  necessity  enlisted  executive  talent 
and  produced,  the  politician,  who.  having  once 
achieved  an  organization,  remained  at  his  post  to 
keep  It  intact  between  elections  and  used  it  for 
purposes  not  always  prompted  by  the  public 
welfare. 

In  colonial  days,  when  the  struggle  b^an 
between  Crown  and  Colonist,  the  colonial  patriots 
formed  clubs  to  designate  their  candidates  for 
public  office.  In  Massachusetts  these  clubs  were 
known  as  "caucuses."  a  word  whose  derivation  is 
.  unknown,  but  which  has  now  become  fixed  in  our 
political  vocabulary.  These  early  caucuses  in 
Boston  have  been  described  as  follows:    "Mr 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  MACHINE  SI 

Samuel  Adams'  father  and  twenty  others,  one 
or  two  from  the  north  end  of  the  town,  where  all 
the  ship  business  is  carried  on,  used  to  meet,  make 
a  caucus,  and  lay  their  plans  for  introducing  certain 
persons  into  places  of  trust  and  power.    When 
they  had  settled  it,  they  ieparated,  and  used  each 
their  particular  influence  within  his  own  circle. 
He  and   hi:,  friends  would    furnish   themselves 
with  ballots,  including  the  names  of  the  parties 
fixed  upon,  which  they  distributed  on  the  day 
of  election.     By  acting  in  concert  together  with 
a  careful  and  extensive   distribution   of  ballots 
they  generally  carried  the  elections  to  their  own 
mind." 

As  the  revolutionary  propaganda  increased  in 
momentum,  caucuses  assumed  a  more  open  char- 
acter. They  were  a  sort  of  informal  town  meet- 
ing, where  neighbors  met  and  agreed  on  candi- 
dates and  the  means  c'  electing  them.  After  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  same  methods 
were  continued,  though  modified  to  suit  the  needs 
of  the  new  party  alignments.  In  this  informal 
manner,  local  and  even  congressional  candidates 
were  named. 

Washington  was  the  unanimous  choice  of  the 
nation.    In  the  third  presidential  election,  John 


i 


■ft  I 


I 

\l  u 


9&        ™EB088AND1TOMACHINB 

Fedendsu  «d  Jeffe«on   of  the  Democmtic 

have  be«.  made.  But  from  1800  to  ISM  the 
C  f"^"  candidate,  were  de««n.ted  Z^^. 
that  the  Vi.«,n.a  Dynasty  f«,tened  itself  upon 

r^I  thar  "T**  "'  ~'"'»^  p°«f-' 
f^rweir   '•\':'""^*^  waii«n  H.  C«w- 

never  S?    »  ""^lune  pohtid«.,  whom  the  public 
Tl^'^T^  *"  ^  "^  pnaidentid  cali  J    i„ 

Imv^S    T  ""*  •"«''' J«*son  the  eternal 
enemy  of  Clay,  the  congre«ionaI  caucus  met  it, 

des.^ated  by  the  New  York  le«idatj«  in  TsS 

K    L  """*  "'**^«''  »'*«'  iP^M'ed  with 

barbecues,  were  held  in  many  parts^^J^ 


■iff 


THE  RISE  OP  THE  lUCHINE  <s 

in  18M  for  indornng  the  inforauJ  nomiiutioiu 
of  the  various  candidatei. 

But  none  of  theie  methods  served  the  purpose. 
The  IVendent  was  a  national  officer,  backed  by  a 
national  party,  and  chosen  by  a  national  elector- 
ate. Anationalsystemofnominatingthepresiden- 
tial  candidates  was  demanded.    On  September  26, 
1881,  lis  delegates  of  the  Anti-Masonic  party. 
rn>re8enUng  thirteen  States,  met  in  a  national 
convention  in  BalUmore.    This  was  the  first  na- 
tional nominating  convention  held  in  America, 
In  February.  1881.  the  Whig  members  of  the 
Maryland  legislature  issued  a  call  for  a  national 
Whig  convention.    This  was  held  in  Baltimore  the 
following  December.   Eighteen  States  were  repre- 
sented by  delegates,  each  according  to  the  number 
of  presidential  electoral  votes  it  cast.    Clay  was 
named  for  President.    The  first  national  Demo- 
cratic convention  met  in  Baltimore  on  May  81, 
1832,  and  nominated  Jackson. 

Since  that  time,  presidential  candidates  have 
been  named  in  national  conventions.  There  have 
been  surprisingly  few  changes  in  procedure  since 
the  first  convention.  It  opened  with  a  temporary 
orgamzation.  examined  the  credentials  of  dele- 
gates, and  appointed  a  committee  on  permanent 


I     i 


$ 


41  r  :{ 


•   ' 


"*        ™B  B088  AND  THE  MACHINB 

loted  for  CMdidatw.  and  ,^JtJ  ^^"^  •*•- 

..practcally  the  order  of  p^„r:X:  ^ 
najonal  convention  i.  .t  once  the  .„p«S  c»m 
jnd  U^e  .upreme  legi.].tn«  of  the  n.Ld  p^T 

formulate,  their  p«cedure  «,d  define,  thS^' 
er^te.  the  platfonn.  and  appoint.  U.^^^ 
executive  committee.  •»uonai 

Two  rules  th.t  have  played  a  significant  part  in 
tt.«e  convention.  de«rve  specnl  menUon.'^^h" 
first  Democratic  convention,  in  order  to  insure 
^en„„,.„,t,„„  of  Van  Buren  for  Vice-^:^ 
-the  nommation  of  Jackson  for  PhaidenT™ 
uncontested-adopted  the  rule  that^w'^Z 
of  the  whole  number  of  the  votes  inTL  "^T^ 
.^al.benece^a.^toconsTr-^:::':-^- 

3,  ^".^^  -d  Republicans  always  adhered 
ventions  also  adopted  the  practice  of  allowing  the 


THE  RISE  OP  THE  BIACBINE  u 

majority  of  the  ddegatet  from  my  SUte  to  cMt 
the  vote  of  the  entire  delegaUon  from  that  SUte 
•  rule  which  ii  rtiU  adhered  to  by  the  Democrat*. 
But  the  Republicana  have  once  1878  adhered  to 
the  policy  of  allowing  each  individual  delegate  to 
cart  hia  vote  aa  he  chooaea. 

The  convention  waa  by  no  means  novel  when 
accepted  as  a  national  organ  for  a  national  party 
As  early  as  1789  an  informal  convention  was  held 
in  the  Philadelphia  State  House  for  nominat- 
ing  Federalist  candidates  for  the  legislature.   The 
pracUce  spread  to  many  Pennsylvania  counties 
and  to  other  SUtes,  and  soon  this  informality  of 
self-appointed  delegates  gave  way  to  delegates 
appointed  according  to  accepted  rules.    When 
the  legislative  caucus  as  a  means  for  nominating 
state  officers  fell  into  disrepute,  sUte  nominating 
conventions  took  its  place.    In  1812  one  of  tije 
earbert  movements  for  a  state  convention  was 
sUrted  by  Tammany  Hall,  because  it  feared  that 
the  legislative  caucus  would  nominate  DeWitt 
Clinton,  its  bitterest  foe.    The  caucus,  however, 
did  not  name  Clinton,  and  the  convention  was 
not  assembled.    The  first  state  nominating  con- 
vention  was  held  in  Utica,  New  York,  in  1824  by 
that  faction  of  tiie  Democratic  party  calling  itself 


:, ,  ^>i 


r ! 


n 


|,'fl 

•k       i 


:  411 
H 


^»         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

the  P«,ple'«  party.    Hie  curtom  soon  „«»h  » 

cannot  conduct  can.,i"    T  T    T'^'^'^ 
n>n«  these  nominat,„nS^'  """  ^^^  '^- 

«.«n.ittees.    W^^^!'" '''P«^*«' <'«°P««n 

tee  system.    By  1880  J^Z  Ll  TT^" 
perfected  a  series  of  statT^j^  w  *^  ^ 

committees.  '  ^'"'^-  -""^  county 

-^Tte^itl "":  "T^*^  °'  '-•^^-^ "«- 

"ees  mto  a  national  unitv     ti, 

invention  whichnominatedCin  mi  a^t^f 
ed  a  "Central  State  C^^        I-  »PP°>nt- 

tion  aDDo,nt»J  Democratic  conven- 

composed  of  one  member  from  each  Sute     Th; 
committee  was  aven  tK«  ^  ^°'' 

S'^en  the  power  to  call  the  next 


THE  RISE  OP  THE  MACHINE  w 

national  convenUon,  and  from  the  start  became 
the  national  executive  body  of  the  party. 

It  is  a  common  noUon  that  the  politician  and 
his  machine  are  of  comparatively  recent  origin. 
But   the  American  politician  arose  contempo- 
raneously witii  the  party,  and  with  such  singular 
fecundity  of  ways  and  means  Uiat  it  is  doubtful  if 
his  modem  successors  could  teach  him  anything 
new.    McMaster  declares:  "A  very  littie  study 
of  long-forgotten  politics  wiU  suffice  to  show  that 
in  filibustering  and  gerrymandering,  in  stealing 
governorships  and  legislatures,  in  using  force  at  the 
polls,  in  colonizing  and  in  distributing  patronage 
to  whom  patronage  is  due.  in  all  the  frauds  and 
tricks  that  go  to  make  up  the  worst  form  of  practi- 
cal politics,  the  men  who  founded  our  sUte  and 
national  governments  were  always  our  equals,  and 
often  our  masters."    And  this  at  a  time  when  only 
propertied  persons  could  vote  in  any  of  the  States 
and  when  only  professed  Christians  could  eitiier 
vote  or  hold  office  in  two  of  them! 

While  Washington  was  President,  Tammany 
Hall,  the  first  municipal  machine,  b-;gan  its  career; 
and  presentiy  George  Clinton,  Governor  of  New 
York,  and  his  nephew,  DeWitt  Clinton,  were  busy 


t 


:', 


'-p  %', 


M         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

organizing  the  first  state  machine.  The  Clinf^n 
^ieved  their  ,ur^  ^^^  ^J^^l 
CouncJ  of  Appointment,  prescribed  hTtS  &st 
C«.on  of  the  Sute.  consisting  of  L  Govt 
no  and  four  senators  chosen  by  the  l^ature 
T^  conned  had  the  appointment  of  ^fy^u 
the  cvd  officer  of  the  SUte  f«.m  Sec^,"" 
sute  to  jusUces  of  the  peace  and  auctiZ«^ 

fflces.  As  the  emoluments  of  some  of  these 
offices  were  relatively  high,  the  disposal  ot^ 
patronage  was  a  plum-tree  for  the  poEn  S 
Clmton.    had    been    Anti-Federalists    and    ^ 

1801  DeWitt  Clinton  became  a  member  of  Z 

S     She^i    "^  °'  'T"^  ^^-''"t  offi-holder 

usticef  bv  th  T  '  ''"'"•  '"^•'**''' «-«»-. 
Justuses  by  the  dozen,  auctioneers  by  the  score 

were  p^erib^l  for  the  benefit  of  tTe  cLZ! 
1802       /     T  '°  *^'  ^"'*«'  States  Senate  in 

seUonthehighroadtopoliticaleminence.    Buthe 

-^^almost  at  once  to  become  Mayor  of  New 
irork  Cty.  a  position  he  occupied  for  about  ten 
year^.  years  filled  with  the  most  venomous  ^S 


)■  i 


THE  REE  OP  THE  MACHINE  29 

betweM  Burrites  and  Bucktails.    Clinton  otgan- 
ixed  a  compact  machine  in  the  city.  A  biased  con- 
temporary description  of  this  machine  has  come 
down  to  us.    "You  [Clinton]  are  encircled  by  a 
mereenaiy  band.  who.  while  they  offer  adulation 
to  your  system  of  error,  are  ready  at  the  first 
favorable  moment  to  forsake  and  desert  you.    A 
portion  of  them  are  needy  young  men,  who  with- 
out maturely  investigating  the  consequence,  have 
sacrificed  principle  to  self-aggrandizement.   Others 
are  mere  parasites,  that  weU  know  the  tenure  on 
which  they  hold  their  offices,  and  will  ever  pay 
implicit  obedience  to  those  who  administer  to  their 
wants.    Many  of  your  followers  are  among  the 
most  profligate  of  the  community.     They  are  the 
^ane  of  social  and  domestic  happiness,  senile  and 
dependent  panderers." 

In  1812  Clinton  became  a  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent and  polled  80  electoral  votes  against  Madi- 
son's 128.  Subsequently  he  became  Governor  of 
New  York  on  the  Erie  Canai  issue;  but  his  political 
cunnmg  seems  to  have  forsaken  him;  and  his  peren- 
nial quarrels  with  every  other  faction  in  his  State 
made  him  the  object  of  a  constant  fire  of  vituper- 
ation. He  had.  however,  taught  all  his  enemies 
the  value  of  spoils,  and  he  adhered  to  the  end  to 


I  1 


t  iV, 


'( 


if 


■•* 


'K    ', 


I  *( 


«»         TOE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

*dopt.  In  a  political  warfare,  the  defensive  aide 
^  eventuiUb^loae.  The  meeknes.  of  Quake.^1 
w.lIdo.„«ligi^b„t„„tj^  iZT^T 

Martm  Van  Buren  was  an  early  di«uple  of 

.'tis  .f^^^^^'^'^-thhisUji:; 

m  1813.  he  had  remained  long  enough  in    the 
Chnton  school  to  learn  eveiy  trick;  a^d  Z  ^ 

s^snchnative  talent  for  intrigue.  sosinX 
manner,  and  such  a  wonderful  momory  for  names 
ttat  he  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a^J. 
more  perfect  and  far-n,aching  machine  than  O^. 
ton  h«l  ever  darned  of.  The  Empire  SutehL 
nev^  produced'  the  equal  of  Van  fiLn  T^Z^ 
n.pulator  of  l^'slatuies.  No  modem  Z^Z 
would  wish  to  face  publicity  if  he  «^rtS  t^T 

X'tdirtfsrr^r-'^'^- 

Senateofthennit^-'sXi^^^r^S: 

oi^anizers  of  the  first  national  machine 

ThesUtemachmeofVanBurenwaslon,  .wn 
as  the  Albany  Regency."  ft  included  several 
very  able  politicians:  William  L  Marev  T 
became  United  Sutes  Senator  in  1^^" 
Wnght.electedSenatorinl833;JohnlDktS: 


THE  BISE  OP  THE  MACHINE  si 

became  Senator  in  1845;  Benjamin  F.  Batler.  who 
wa.Un.ted  Sutes  Attorney^„e«U  under  ]^! 
den  V.nB««n.  besides  a  sector  more  of  p^. 
nent  State  officials.    It  had  an  influential  o.^an  in 
the  Albany  Argus,  lieutenants  in  eveiy  county, 
and  capu.ns  in  every  town.    Its  cJnfidentii 
J^ents  kept  the  leaden,  constantly  informed  o1 
the  pohtical  situation  in  eve^^  looaHty;  and  its 
d.«uplme  made  the  wid.  of  Van  Buren  and  his 
colleaguesacommand.    Federal  and  local  patron- 
age and  a  sagacious  distribution  of  state  contracts 
sustained  this  combim^Uon.    When  the  pracUce 
of  nommatmg   by  conventiona  began,  the  Re- 
gency at  once  discerned  the  strategic  value  of 
oontrolhng  delegates,  and.  until  theteak  i^  tTe 
Dem^ocmic  party  in  1848.  it  literally  reigned  in 

With  the  disintegwtion  of  the  Federalist  party 

famJ.es  of  New  England  and  New  York.  "  -old 
autocracy  of  the  South  was  mor.  fortunate  in 
the  ma«tenance  of  its  power.  Jefferson's  party 
w«  not  only  weU  disciplined;  it  gave  its  Ij. 

dence  toapeople  still  accustomed  to  class  rule  and 
m  turn  was  supported  by  them.  In  a  strict  sense 
the  V.rgm«  Dynasty  was  not  a  machine  like 


1 1.«: 


'I 

■I 


V  ^? 


88  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  JIACHINE 
V«.Buren',AJbMyRegenqr.  It  w«  the  effect 
of  the  concentrated  influence  of  men  of  g«at 
•bihty  rather  th«.  a  definite  ontani«.tion.  iL 
«,ngre«ionaI  caucus  was  the  instrument  through 
which  then-  mfluence  was  made  pr«*ic.l.  L 
1816    however,   a  considerable  movement   was 

to  the  Jeffersomans  of  the  North.    William  H 
Crawford   of  Georgia,  and  Daniel  Tompkins,  of 
New  York,  came  forward  as  compeUtors  with 
Monroe  for  th.  caucus  nomination.    The  knowl- 
edge of  this  intrigue  fostered  the  rising  revolt 
•HPunst   the   caucus.    Twenty-two   fiepubKcans. 
many  of  whom  were  known  to  be  opposed  to  the 
caucus    system. 'absented    themselves.    Momt« 
was  nominated  by  the  narrow  margin  of  eleven 
votes  over  Crawford.    By  the  time  Monroe  h«l 
served  his  second  term  the  discrediting  of  the 
caucvu  was  made  complete  by  the  nomination  of 
Crawford  by  a  thinly  attended  gathering  of  his 
adherents,  who  presumed  to  act  for  the  party. 
The  Virgmia  Dynasty  had  no  further  favorites  to 
foster  and  a  new  political  force  swept  into  power 
behmd  the  dominating  personality  of  Andrew 
Jackson. 

The  new  Democracy,  however,  did  not  remove 


THE  RISE  Oi  THE  MACHINE  S8 

the  i«rtocratic  power  of  tke  daveholder;  «.d 
fwm  JmW,  day  to  Buchanan's  thi.  became 
«.  mcrea«ng  force  in  the  party  council..    Tie 
davcy  question  illustrate,  how  a  compact  group 
of  capable  and  determined  men.  dominat^by 
an  economic  motive,  can  exercise  for  yearn  in  the 
political  arena  a  preponderating  influence,  even 
though  they  represent  an  actual  minority  of  the 
nauon.    This  untoward  condition  was  made  pos- 
«ble  by  the  political  sagacity  and  pe«i.tence^ 
the  party  managers  and  by  the  miwilHngnes.  of  a 
lanje  portion  of  the  people  to  bring  the  real  i«ue 
to  a  head. 

h^Z.'^"  *"'":"  '^"'  *^*'"'  ^y  onfanization 
had  become  a  fixed  and  necessa^^  incident  in 

Amenean  politics.  The  war  changed  the  face  of 
our  nauonal  affairs.  The  changes  wrought  muiu! 
Phed  the  opportunities  of  the  professional  poli- 
tician and  m  these  opportmuties.  as  weU  a.  in  the 
transfused  eueigies  and  ideal,  of  the  people,  we 
must  seek   the  causes  for  rt„.  t^i"".  we 

«.-         J  '  *"°**  perversions  of 

party  and  party  machinery  which  have  chaHic- 
tenaedour  modem  epoch. 


.  '• 


y„k 


■if  :!:■■' 


/.a, 


it 


CHAPTER  in 


THE  TIDE  or  liATERIALUlI 

Thb  r-ivfl  War,  which  shocked  the  country  into 
a  new  national  conscioiuness  and  rearranged  the 
elements  of  its  economic  life,  also  brought  about 
a  new  era  in  political  activity  and  management. 
The  United  States  after  Appomattox  was  a  very 
different  country  from  the  United  States  before 
Sumter  was  fired  upon.  The  war  was  a  continental 
upheaval,  like  the  Appalachian  uphft  in  our  geo- 
logical history,  producing  sharp  and  profound 
readjustments. 

Despite  the  fact  that  in  1864  Lincohi  had  been 
elecled  on  a  Union  ticket  supported  by  War 
Democrats,  the  Republicans  claimed  the  triumphs 
of  the  war  as  their  own.  They  emerged  from  the 
struggle  with  the  enormous  prestige  of  a  party 
triumphant  and  with  "Saviors  of  the  Union"  in- 
scribed  on  their  banners. 
The  death  of  their  wise  and  great  leader  opened 

»4 


THE  TTOE  OF  MATEBUUSM  85 

the  door  to  a  violent  partizan  orgy.    Ptt«dent 
Andrew  Johnson  could  not  check  the  fuiy  of  the 
radical  reconrtracUonists;  and  a  new  political  era 
began  in  a  riot  of  dogmatic  and  insolent  dicUtor- 
ship,  which  was  intensified  by  the  mob  of  carpet- 
baggers,  scalawags,  and  freedmen  in  the  South, 
and  not  abated  by  the  lawless  prompUngs  of  the 
Ku-Klux  to  regain  patrician  leadership  in  the 
home  of  secession  nor  by  the  baneful  leMntment 
of  the  North.    The  soldier  was  made  a  pohtical 
asset.    For  a  generation  the  "bloody  shirt"  was 
waved  before  the  eyes  of  the  Northern  voter;  and 
the  evils,  both  grotesque  and  gruesome,  of  an    . 
unnatural  reconstrucUon  are  not  yet  forgotten  in 
the  South. 

A  second  opportunity  of  the  poiitidan  was 
found  in  the  rapid  economic  expansion  that 
foUowed  the  war.  The  feeling  of  security  in  the 
North  caused  by  the  success  of  the  Union  arms 
buoyed  an  unbounded  optimism  which  made  it 
easy  to  enlist  capital  in  new  enterprises,  and  the 
protective  tariff  and  liberal  banking  law  stimu- 
lated industry.  Exports  of  raw  material  and 
food  products  stimulated  mining,  grazing,  and 
farming.  European  capital  sought  investments 
in  American  railroads,  mines,  and  industrial  under- 


t'i 


Ca^^^ 


>rf 


••        THB  BOSS  AND  THB  MACHINB 

*«km«fc  I«»thedec«lefoUowiiigthew«rtlie«tt. 
put  of  pig  iron  doubled,  that  of  ooal  multiplied  by 
five,  and  that  of  tteel  by  one  bundled.  Superior 
iron  and  copper.  Penn«ylvani«  coal  and  oil.  Nevada 
and  California  gold  and  silver.  aU  yielded  their 
enormous  values  to  thi«  new  call  of  enterpriae.  In- 
ventions and  manufactures  of  all  kinds  flourished. 
During  isao-flo  manufacturing  esUblishments  had 
ucreased  by  fourteen  per  cent.  During  180&-70 
they  increased  seventy-nine  per  cent 

The  Homestead  Act  of  May  20.  1862,  opened 
vast  areas  of  public  lands  to  a  new  immigration. 
The  flow  of  population  was  westward,  and  the 
West  called  for  communication  with  the  East.  The 
Union  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific  railways,  the  pio- 
neer transcontinental  lines,  fostered  on  generous 
grants  of  land,  were  the  tokens  of  the  new  trans- 
porUUon  movement.  Railroads  were  pushing  for- 
ward everywhere  with  unheard-of  rapidity.    Short 
lines  were  being  merged  into  far-reaching  systems. 
In  the  early  seventies  the  Pennsylvania  system 
was  organized  and  the  Vanderbilts  acquired  con- 
trol of  lines  as  far  west  as  Chicago.    Soon  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  system  extended  its  empire 
of  trade  to  the  Mississippi.    Half  a  dozen  ambi- 
tious Hans-Mississippi  systems,  connecting  with 


THE  TIDE  OF  BUTERUUSM  n 

four  new  trwucontinental  projecU.  mm  put  into 
operation. 

I'*«>fl»««ty  ia  alwayi  the  opportunity  of  tlte 
poliUdan.    Whatiiofgreatertiigniflcancetothe 
rtudent  of  politics  it  that  prosperity  at  this  time 
was  organized  on  a  new  basis.    Befoie  the  war 
business  had  been  conducted  laigely  by  individuals 
or  partnerships.    The  unit  was  small;  tiie  amount 
of  capital  needed  was  Umited,    But  now  the  unit 
was  expanding  so  rapidly,  the  need  for  capital  was 
so  lavish,  the  empire  of  trade  so  extensive,  that  a 
new  mechanism  of  ownership  was  necessary.    This 
device,  of  course,  was  the  corporation.    It  had, 
indeed,  existed  as  a  trading  unit  for  many  years. 
But  the  corporation  before  1860  was  compare^ 
Uvely  smaU  and  was  generally  based  upon  charters 
granted  by  special  act  of  the  legislature. 

No  other  event  has  had  so  practical  a  bearinr 
on  our  politics  and  our  economic  and  social  life 
as  the  advent  of  the  corporate  device  for  owning 
and  manipulating  private  business.  For  it  links 
the  omnipotence  of  tie  State  to  the  limitations 
of  private  ownership;  ft  tiirusts  the  interests  of 
private  business  into  every  legislature  that  grants 
charters  or  passes  regulating  acts;  it  diminishes, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  stimulus  to  honesty  and 


J 


Mm 


9^< 


I'' 


* 


(; 

1 


»        THB  B08B  AND  THB  ICACHINB 

correct  dcding  whidi  aiwivate  individiuJ  diMsenu 
to  be  Us  grwtMt  aiMt  in  trade,  for  it  tvpLwe. 
individual  renwMibilitjr  with  group  leqMMuibility 
and  icattera  omunhip  ammg  to  large  a  number 
of  perMMu  that  liniiter  manipulaticm  ii  pooible. 
But  if  the  private  corporation,  through  iu 
interert  in  broad  charter  privilege,  and  Ubenl 
corporaUon  laws  and  its  devoUon  to  the  tariff 
and  to  conservative  financial  polides.  found  it 
convenient  to  do  business  with  the  politician  and 
his  organisation,  the  quasi-public  corporations, 
Mpedally  the  steam  railroads  and  street  railways, 
found  it  ahnost  essential  to  thelrexistence.    They 
received  not  only  their  franchises  but  frequoitly 
large  bonuses  from  the  pubUc  treasury.    The 
Pacific  roads  alone  were  endowed  with  an  empire 
of    145,000.000    acres    of   public    land.    Sutes. 
counties,  and  cities  freely  loaned  their  credit  and 
gave  ample  diarters  to  new  raflway  lines  which 
v/ere  to  stimulate  prosperity. 

City  councils,  legislatures,  mayors,  governors. 
Congress,  and  presidento  were  drawn  into  the 
maelstrom  of  commercialism.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  side  by  side  with  the  new  business  organisa- 
tion there  grew  up  a  new  political  organization,  and 
that  the  new  business  magnate  was  accompanied 


THE  TIDE  OF  MATEBUUSM  « 

by  •  Mw  politick  magnate.  The  party  madiine 
ud  the  party  boM  were  the  natural  product  of  the 
time,  which  wai  a  time  of  gain  and  greed.  Itwaa 
a  lordid  reacUon,  indeed,  from  the  high  prindplei 
that  sought  victory  on  the  field  of  battle  and  that 
fmind  their  noblest  embodiment  in  the  character 
of  Abraham  Lincoln, 

The  dominant  and  domineering  party  chose 
the  IcMlmg  sddier  of  the  North  as  its  candidate 
for  Resident.    General  Grant,  elected  as  a  popu- 
lar idol  because  of  his  military  genius,  possessed 
neither  the  experience  nor  the  skill  to  countermove 
the  machinations  of  designing  politicians  and  their 
business  allies.    On  the  other  hand,  he  soon  dis- 
played an  admiration  for  business  success  that 
placed  him  at  once  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the 
hour.    He  exalted  men  who  could  make  money 
rather  than  men  who  could  command  ideas.    He 
chose  Alexander  T.  Stewart,  the  New  York  mer- 
diant  priuc.  ine  of  the  three  richest  men  of  his 
day,  for  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.     The  law, 
however,  forbade  the  appointment  to  this  office 
of  any  one  who  should  "directly  or  indirectly  be 
concerned  or  interested  in  carrying  on  the  business 
<rf  trade  or  commerce,"  and  Stewart  was  disqual- 
ified.    Adolph  E.  Borie  of  Philadelphia,  whos-; 


III  I 


W^ 


M 


1( 


iW 


\,'a 


II 


i 
I 

i 

J 

I 
1 

1 1".' 


40         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
qualificaticna  were  the  possession  of  great  wealth 
and  the  friendship  of  the  President,  was  named 
Secretary  of  the  Navy.    Another  personal  friend, 
John  A.  Bawlins,  was  named  Sewetary  of  War. 
A  third  friend,  Elihu  B.  Washbume  of  Illinois, 
was  made  ISecretary  of  SUte.    Washbume  soon 
resigned,  and  Hamilton  Fish  of  New  York  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  place.    Fish,  together  with  General 
Jacob  D.  Cox  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
and  Judge  E.  Rockwood  Hoar  of  Massachusetts, 
Attorney-General,  formed  a  strong  triumvirate  of 
abaity  and  character  in  the  Cabinet.    But,  while 
Grant  displayed  pleasure  in  the  companionship 
of  thesp  eminent  men.  they  never  possessed  his 
complete  confidence.  When  the  machinations  for 
place  and  favor  began.  Hoar  and  Cox  were  "in 
the  way.    Hoar  had  offended  the  Senate  in  his 
recommendations  for  federal  circuit  judges  (the 
circuit  court  was  then  newly  estabKshed).  and 
when  the  President  named  him  for  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  Hoar  was  rejected.     Senator 
Cameron,  one  of  the  cUef  spoils  politicians  of 
the  time,  told  Hoar  frankly  why:  "What  could 
you  expect  for  a  man  who  had  snubbed  seventy 
Senators! "     A  few  months  later  (June.  1870).  the 
President  blunUy  asked  for  Hoar's  resignation. 


THE  TIDE  OF  MATERIALISM  41 

a  sacrifice  to  the  gods  of  the  Senate,  to  purchase 
their  favor  for  the  Santo  Domingo  treaty. 

Cox  resigned  in  the  autumn.    As  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  he  had  charge  of  the  Patent  Office, 
Census  Bureau,  and  Indian  Service,  all  of  them 
requiring  many  appointments.    He  had  attempted 
to  introduce  a  sort  of  civil  service  examination  for 
applicants  and  had  vehemently  protested  against 
political  assessments  levied  on  clerks  in  his  de- 
partment.   He  especially  offended  Senators  Cam- 
eron and  Chandler,  party  chieftains  who  had  the 
ear  of  the  President.      General  Cnx  stated  the 
matter  plainly:  "T'v  views  of  the  necessity  of  re- 
form in  the  civil  service  had  brought  me  more 
or  less  into  collision  with  the  plans  of  our  active 
political  managers  and    my  sense   of  duty  has 
obliged  me  to  oppose  some  of  their  methods  of 
action. " 

These  insUnces  reveal  how  the  party  chieftains 
insisted  inexorably  upon  their  demands.  To  them 
the  public  service  was  principally  a  means  to 
satisfy  party  ends,  and  the  chief  duty  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  his  Cabinet  was  to  satisfy  the  claims  of 
party  necessity.  General  Cox  said  that  distribut- 
ing offices  occupied  "the  larger  part  of  the  time  of 
the  President  and  all  his  Cabinet."    General  Gar- 


1 11 


r  'i  y 


■-,'!"■ 


i4 


i 


*»         THE  B06S  AND  THE  MACHINE 
field  wrote  (1877):    "One-tliird  of  the  working 
hours  of  Senators  and  Representatives  is  hardly 
sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon  them 
m  reference  to  appointments  to  office. " 

By  the  side  of  the  partizan  motives  stalked  the 
desire  for  gain.  There  were  those  to  whom  parties 
meant  but  the  opportunity  for  sudden  wealth. 
The  President's  admiration  for  commercial  success 
and  his  inabmty  to  read  the  motives  of  syco- 
phants multiplied  their  opportunities,  and  in  the 
eight  years  of  his  adm-nistration  there  was  consum- 
mated the  baneful  union  of  business  and  politics. 

During  the  second  Grant  campaign  (1872),  when 
Horace  Greeley  was  making  his  astounding  run  for 
President,  the  New  York  Sun  hinted  at  gross  and 
wholesale  briberies  of  Congressmen  by  Oakes  Ames 
and  his  associates  who  had  built  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad,  an  enterprise  which  the  United  States 
had  generously  aided  with  loans  and  gifts. 

Three  committees  of  Congress,  two  in  the  House 
and  one  in  the  Senate  (the  Poland  Committee,  the 
Wilson  Committee,  and  the  Senate  Committee), 
subsequently  investigated  the  charges.  Their 
mvestigations  disclosed  the  fact  that  Ames,  then 
a  member  of  the  House  of  RepresenUtives,  the 


THE  TroE  OF  MATERIALISM  43 

principal  stockholder  in  the  Union  Pacific,  and 
the  soul  of  the  enterprise,  had  organised,  under 
an  existing  Pennsylvania   charter,   a   construc- 
tion company  caUed  the  Credit  MobiUer,  whcae 
shares  were  issued  to  Ames  and  his  associates.  To 
the  Cr^t  Mobilier  were  issued  the  bonds  and 
stock  of  the  Union  Pacific,  which  had  been  paid 
fo-  "at  not  more  than  thirty  cents  on  the  dollar  in 
road-making."  ■    As  the  United  States,  in  addition 
to  princely  gifts  of  land,  had  in  effect  guaranteed 
the  cost  of  construction  by  authorizing  the  issue 
of  Government  bonds,  dollar  for  dollar  and  side 
by  side  with  the  bonds  of  the  road,  the  motive 
of  the  magnificent  shuffle,  which  gave  the  road 
into  the  hands  of  a  construction  company,  was 
clear.   Now  it  was  allied  that  stock  of  the  Cr^it 
Mobilier,  paying  dividends  of  three  hundred  and 
forty  per  cent,  had  been  distributed  by  Ames 
among  many  of  his  fellow-Congressm«i,  in  order 
to  forestall  a  threatened  investigation.    It  was  dis- 
closed that  some  of  the  members  had  refused  point 
blank  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  stock;  others 
had  refused  after  deliberation ;  others  had  purchased 
some  of  it  o-jtright;  others,  alas!  had  "purchased" 
it,  to  be  paid  for  out  of  its  own  dividends. 

<  TMtimooy  before  the  Wibon  Committee. 


h:d 


'\ 


I  ml 


**         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

The  majority  of  the  members  involved  in  the 
nasty  affair  were  absolved  by  the  Poland  Com- 
mittee from  "any  corrupt  motive  or  purpose." 
But  Oakes  Ames  of  Massachusetts  and  James 
Brooks  of  New  York  were  recommended  for  ex- 
pulsion from  the  House  and  Patterson  of  New 
HampshirefromtheSenate.    The  House,  however, 
was  content  with  censuring  Ames  and  Brooks, 
and  the  Senate  permitted  Patterson's  term  to  ex- 
pire, since  only  five  days  of  it  remained.    What- 
ever may  have  been  the  opinion  of  Congress, 
and  whatever  a  careful  reading  of  the  testimony 
discloses  to  an  impartial  mind  at  this  remote  day, 
upon  the  voters  of  that  time  the  revelations  came 
M  a  shock.    Some  of  the  most  trusted  Congress- 
men were  drawn  into  the  miasma  of  suspicion, 
among  them  Garfield;  Dawes;  Scofield;  Wilson, 
the  newly  elected  Vice-President;  Colfax,  the  out- 
going Vice-President.    Colfax  had  been  a  popular 
idol,  with  the  Presiden<!y  in  his  vision;  now  bowed 
and  disgraced,  ht.  left  the  national  capital  never  to 
return  with  a  public  commission. 

In  1874  came  the  disclosures  of  the  Whiskey 
Ring.  They  involved  Umted  States  Internal 
Revenue  oflScers  and  distillers  in  the  revenue 


THE  TIDE  OF  MATERUUSM  45 

district  of  St  Louis  and  a  number  of  officials  at 
Washington.    Benjamin  H.  Bristow,  on  becoming 
Secretary  of  the  Treaauiy  in  June  of  that  year, 
immediately  icented  corruption.    He  discovered 
that  during  1871-74  only  about  one-third  of  the 
whiskey  shipped  from  St.  Louis  had  paid  the  tax 
and  that  the  Government  had  been  defrauded  of 
nearly  $8,CDO.0O0.     "If  a  distiller  was  honest." 
says  James  Ford  Rhodes,  the  eminent  historian, 
"he  was  entrapped  into  some  technical  violation 
of  the  law  by  the  officials,  who   by  virtue  of 
their  authority  seized  his  distillery,  giving  him 
the  choice  of  bankruptcy  or  a  partnership  in  their 
operations;  and  generally  he  succumbed." 

McDonald,  the  supervisor  of  the  St.  Louis 
revenue  district,  was  the  leader  of  the  Whiskey 
Ring.  He  lavished  gifts  upon  President  Grant, 
who,  with  an  amazing  indifference  and  innocence, 
accepted  such  favors  from  all  kinds  of  sources. 
Orville  E.  Babcock,  the  President's  private  sec- 
retary, who  possessed  the  complete  confidence  of 
the  guileless  general,  was  soon  enmeshed  in  the 
net  of  investigation.  Grant  at  first  declared, 
"If  Babcock  is  guilty,  there  is  no  man  who  wants 
him  so  much  proven  guilty  as  I  do,  for  it  is  the 
greatest  piece  of  traitorism  to  me  that  a  man 


mi 


i*P'^ 


m 


46        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BfACHINE 
could  possibly  practice."     When  Babcock  wu 
indicted,  however,  for  complicity  to  defraud  the 
Government,  the  President  did  not  hesiUte  to 
«*y  on  oath  that  he  had  never  seen  anything  in 
Babcock's  behavior  which  indicated  that  he  was 
in  any  way  interested  in  the  Whiskey  Ring  and 
that  he  had  always  had  "great  confidence  in  his 
integrity  and  eflidency."     In  other  ways  the 
President  displayed  his  eagerness  to  defend  his 
private  secretary.    The  jury  acquitted  Babcock, 
but  the  public  did  not.    He  was  compelled  to 
resign  under  pressure  of  public  condemnation, 
and  was  afterwards  indicted  for  conspiracy  to  rob 
a  safe  of  documents  of  an  incriminating  character. 
But  Grant  seems  never  to  have  lost  faith  in  him. 
Three  of  the  men  sent  to  prison  for  their  com- 
plicity in  the  whiskey  fraud  were  pardoned  after 
six  months.    McDonald,  the  chieftain  of  the  gang, 
served  but  one  year  of  his  term. 

The  exposure  of  the  Whisky  Ring  was  followed 
by  an  even  more  startling  humiliation.  The 
House  Committee  on  Expenditures  in  the  War 
Department  recommended  that  General  William 
W.  Belknap,  Secretary  of  War,  be  impeached  for 
"high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  while  in  office," 


-f 


THE  TIDE  OP  MATEBIALBM  47 

and  the  Hoiue  unanimoiwly  adopted  the  wcom- 
mendation.  The  evidence  upon  which  the  com- 
mittee based  iU  drastic  wconunendation  disclosed 
^ost  sordid  division  of  spoils  between  the 
Secretary  and  his  wife  and  two  rascals  who  held 
m  succession  the  valuable  post  of  trader  at  Fort 
Sill  m  the  Indian  Territory. 

The  committee's  report  was  read  about  three 
o  clock  in  the  afternoon  of  March  2,  1878     In 
the  forenoon  of  the  same  day  Belknap  had  sent 
In*  resignation  to  the  President,  who  had  accepted 
>t   immediately.     The   President   and   Belknap 
were  personal  friends.    But  the  certainty  of  Bel- 
faiap's  perfidy  was  not  removed  by  the  attitude 
of  the  President,  nor  by  tlie  vote  of  the  Senate 
on  the  article  of  impeachment -S7  guilty,  25 
not  guilty  -  for  the  evidence  was  too  convincing. 
Ihe  public  knew  by  this  time  Grant's  childlike 
faihng  m  sticking  to  his  friends;  and  2S  of  the 
f  ,^"t»rs  who  voted  not  guilty  had  publicly 
declared  they  did  so.  not  because  they  believed 
him  mnocent,  but  because  they  believed  they  had 
no  jurisdiction  over  an  official  who  had  resigned. 

There   were  many  nmor  indications  of  the 
l>«vest  which  gitMs  materialism  was  reaping  in 


A> 


^ 


■1    ,, 

i  ri 

I'm- 

1  5 

1-  ('! 

i '.  'ff  4i 

'•''''■§ 

'■A 

48  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
the  political  field.  SUte  and  dty  govenunent. 
were  surrendered  to  political  brigands.  In  1871 
the  Governor  of  Nebraska  was  removed  for  em- 
bezzlement. Kansas  was  starUed  by  reveUtions 
of  brazen  bribery  in  hw  senatorial  elections 
(1872-1878).  General  Schenck.  representing  the 
United  States  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  humili- 
ated his  country  by  dabbling  in  a  fraudulent 
mining  scheme. 

In  a  speech  before  the  Senate,  then  trying  Gen- 
eral  Belknap,  Senator  George  P.  Hoar,  on  May 
6.  1876,  summed  up  the  greater  abominations: 

My  own  public  {ife  has  been  a  very  brief  and  in- 
significant one,  extending  little  beyond  the  duretion 
of  a  single  term  of  senatorial  office.  But  m  that  brief 
penod  I  have  «!en  five  judges  of  a  high  court  of  the 
,  United  States  driven  from  office  by  threats  of  impeach- 
ment for  corruption  or  maladministration.  I  have 
heard  the  taunt  from  friendliest  lips,  that  when  the 
Umted  Stotes  presented  herself  in  the  East  to  take 
part  with  the  civilised  world  in  generous  competition 
m  the  art«  of  hfe.  the  only  products  of  her  institution, 
m  which  she  surpassed  aU  othen  beyond  question  was 
her  corruption.  I  have  seen  in  the  State  in  the  Union 
foremost  m  power  and  wealth  four  judges  <rf  her  courts 
impeached  for  corruption,  and  the  poHtical  administra- 
faon  of  her  chief  city  become  a  disgrace  and  a  bywoid 
throughout  the  world.      I  have  seen  the  chairman  of 


THE  TIDE  OP  MATEBLUiSM  40 

the  Comiaittee  on  MiliUry  ASun  in  the  Hoiue  riie 
in  h«  pUce  «,d  demuid  the  expul«on  of  four  of  wl 
"«oa«te.  for  nuking  «Je  of  their  official  privilege  of 

"betjng  the  youth,  to  be  «i«=,ted  .t  our  gr^tS^ 
•dioob.     When  the  greatert  r«l«»d  «rfthe  wwW 
buuhng  together  the  continent  and  uniting  thTC 
great  leas  which  waih  our  Acre.,  was  finided.  I  have 
««  our  national  triumph  and  exJtation  turned  to 
bitterness  and  shame  by  the  unwiimou.  reporU  of  three 
committees  of  Cong«„  -  two  in  the  House  «id  one 
toe -that  every  step  of  that  mighty  enterprise  had 
been  taken  m  fraud.    I  have  heard  in  highesTSaces^ 
^el««  doctrme  avowed  by  men  grown  old  in  public 
office  that  the  true  way  by  which  power  shodd  be 
^ed  m  the  Itepublic  U  to  bribe  the  people  with  thi 
office  .created  for  their  «^ice.  and  the  true  end  for 
which  .tshodd  be  used  when  gained  is  the  promotion 
of^h  ambition  and  the  gratification  J^Z 
revenge    I  have  heard  that  suspicions  haunt  the  foot 
step,  of  the  trusted  companions  of  the  Prerident. 

Theie  startling  facta  did  not  dwtter  the  prestige 
of  the  Republicans,  the  "Saviors  of  the  Union  " 
nor  humble  their  leaders.  One  of  them.  Senator 
Foraker,  says-:  "The  campaign  (1876)  on  the  part 
of  the  Democrata  gave  emphasis  to  the  reform  idea 
and  exploited  Tilden  as  the  great  reform  gover- 
nor  of  New  York  and  the  best  fitted  man  in  the 
country  to  bring  about  reforms  in  the  Government 

•Nolufnm  a  B<uy  UJ,,  toI.  i,  m. 

4 


.4 


t 


u 


to        THE  BOM  AND  THE  BUCHINB 

of  the  United  Sute^  No  wforau  w«  M«fad- 
but  .  f«*  like  that  never  interfewd  with  «  ,*." 
fom  eampwgn."  TheorthodoiyofthepoliticiM 
mn«ned  undmken.  FonAer-.  w«an.  wew  the 
creed  of  tho««ad.:  "The  BepublicM.  puty  h«d 
proawnitcd  the  wm  «,oce«fully;  h«i  teoonrtructed 
the  SUte.;  h«l  rehiAiKtated  our  finance..  «d 
brought  on  .pede  redempUon."    The  memoin 

r  f  *^  '^^  ■*'*^'"  -^  t^  Period.  «uch 
as  Cullom.  Foraker.  Pl.tt.  even  Hoar.  «e  imbued 
with  an  inflexible  faith  in  the  party  «,d  colowd 
by  the  conviction  that  it  i.  a  function  of  Govern- 
mentis  aid  bu.ine«.   Piatt,  for  inrt«.ce,  alludimr 

■fTJ^  '****'"'*  "  ^P«^'  ^  ««»  «^entte! 

««d:  "What  I  liked  about  hin.  wa.  hi.  f r«i  and 

penn.tent  contention  that  the  dtiren  who  bert 

loved  hi.  party  and  wa.  loyal  to  it.  wa.  loyd  to 

and  bert  loved  hi.  country."    And  many  yeaw 

afterward..  wh«.  a  new  type  of  leader  appea«d 

i>epre«=ntin«  a  new  era  of  conviction.  Piatt  wa. 

deeply  concerned.    Hi.  famou.  letter  to  Roowj- 

velt.  when  the  Bough  Eider  wa,  being  mentioned 

for  Governor  of  New  York  (1899).  ahow.  the 

reluctance  of  the  old  man  to  «h»  the  «gn.  of  the 

toe.:     The  thing  that  really  did  bother  me  wa. 

tlus:  I  had  heard  from  a  great  many  «,urce.  that 


fi 


THE  TIDE  OP  MATERIAUSM  51 

you  were  •  little  Ioom  on  the  rektioiu  of  4»pitd 
•nd  kbor,  on  tnutf  and  oombinatioiu,  and  indeed 
on  the  numeroiu  quettiont  which  have  leoently 
•riaen  in  politics  affecting  the  leeurity  of  earnings 
and  the  right  of  a  man  to  run  his  own  business  in 
liis  own  way,  with  due  respect  of  course  to  the 
Ten  Commandments  and  the  Penal  Code." 

The  leaders  of  both  the  great  parties  firmly 
and  honestly  believed  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  aid  pi.vate  enterprise,  and  that  by 
stimulating  business  everybody  is  helped.  This 
article  of  faith,  with  the  doctrine  of  the  sanctity 
of  the  party,  was  a  natural  product  of  the  con- 
ditions outlined  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter 
—  the  war  and  the  remarkable  economic  expan- 
sion following  the  war.  It  was  the  cause  of  the 
alliance  between  business  and  politics.  It  made 
the  machine  and  the  boss  the  sinister  and  ever 
present  shadows  of  Ic^^timate  orgttnization  and 
leadership. 


KiJ 


rj 


^m 


CHAPTER  IV 


*■■  rouncuN  amd  trb  citt 

The  gigantic  natioul  mMhine  that  wm  erected 
during  Grant's  adminirtration  would  have  been 
ineffectual  without  local  wurcea  of  power.  The« 
•ouroe*  of  power  were  found  in  the  cities,  now 
thriving  on  the  new-born  commerce  and  industry, 
increasing  marvelously  in  numbers  and  in  sice, 
•nd  offering  to  the  political  manipulator  oppor- 
tunities that  have  rarely  been  paralleled.' 

The  governmental  framework  of  the  American 
city  is  based  on  the  English  system  as  exemplified 

■  Betmea  18«0  and  IgM  tin  amnber  of  dlit,  ^  utmn    . 

I^oT^i^  ^  '.  ™'"°"  ■-'"''i'^t.:  flft««  with  »<«  tt« 
«0O.0O0,  ud   «nty.dght  with  mo«  th.„  100,000.    la  WW  IW 

'^  ,;i?^"**'"  °^  """  *  l»P"l'tion  ov«  (00.000.  fifty  dlS 
-»!«««..  «„.  ninrty^i^  .v„  «.ooo.  I,  ^  ^'^^ 
o««n«„  tor  »  city  to  doubh  it.  population  in  .  d««h.  i„  ^ 
yean  Binninghan,  gained  1*5%.  Lo,  Angelefc  »U%  SealUe  la*^ 


THE  POUTICIAN  AND  THE  CITY       «s 

IntbetowiuofColonWAnwric  Their  charten 
were  received  from  Uw  Crown  and  their  biuineH 
WM  conducted  by  •  mayor  and  a  council  compowd 
of  aldermen  and  coundlmen.  The  mayor  waa 
u«i*Ily  appointed;  the  cound]  elected  by  a  prop- 
erty^olding  electorate.  In  New  England  the 
glorified  town  meeting  waa  an  ir  ,  ,m  .gency 
of  local  government 

After  the  Revolution,  niayo'5  -id  •veil  a ,  ro,in.  =' 
men  were  elected,  and  the  /  h.  .♦-  ,  of  t(«  tow 
were  granted  by  the  Ie«idatv.rt  no.  i>v  Hv  ,       , 
tive.  of  the  Sute.    In  coloi^ial  day.  ,',  uter.,  had 
been  granted  by  the  King.    They  'jh  1  *.,.ed  /■  ••  the 
city  certain  immunitiei  and  wdl-doti!    '  spiier.g 
of  autonomy.     But  when  the  legiwatures  were 
given  the  power  to  grant  charters,  they  reduced 
the  charter  to  the  level  of  a  .Ututory  enact- 
ment, which  could  be  amended  or  repealed  by 
any  successive  legislature,  thereby  opening  up  a 
convenient  field  for  political  maneuvering.    The 
courts  have,  moreover,  construed  these  charters 
strictly,  holding  the  dties  dosdy  bound  to  those 
powers   which   the   legisUtures   conferred   upon 
them. 

The  task  of  governing  the  early  American  town 
was  simple  enough.     In  1790  New  York,  Phila- 


Ii!l 


VI 


:;i 


S*  THE  BOSS  AND  THK  MACHINE 
delphia,  Boston.  Baltimore,  and  Charleston  were 
the  only  towns  in  the  United  SUtes  of  over  8000 
inhabitants;  all  together  they  numbered  s^aroely 
130,000.  Their  populations  were  homog«ieous; 
their  wanta  were  few;  and  they  were  still  in  that 
happy  childhood  when  every  voter  knew  nearly 
every  other  voter  and  when  everybody  knew  his 
neighbor's  business  as  well  as  his  own,  and  per- 
haps better. 

Gradually  the  towns  awoke  to  their  newer 
needs   and  demanded  public  service— lighting. 
sti«et  cleaning,  fire  protection,  public  education! 
All  these  matters,  however,  could  be  easily  looked 
after  by  the  mayor  and  the  council  committees. 
But  when  these  towns  began  to  sprsad  rapidly 
into  cities,  Oiey  quickly  outgrew  tiieir  colonial 
garments.    Yet  the  legislatures  were  loath  to  cast 
the  old  garments  aside.    One  may  say  that  from 
1840  to  1001,  when  the  Galveston  plan  of  com- 
mission government  was  inaugurated,  American 
municipal  government  was  nothing  but  a  series 
of  contests  between  a  small  body  of  alert  citi- 
zens attempting  to  fix  responsibility  on  public 
officers  and  a  few  adroit  politicians  attempting 
to  elude  responsibility;  botii  sides  appealing  to  an 
electorate  which  was  habitually  somnolent  but 


THE  POUTICUN  AND  THE  CITY       « 

subject  to  intermittent  awakenings  through  spasms 
of  righteousness. 

During  this  epoch  no  important  dty  remained 
immune  from  ruthless  legislative  interference.  Year 
after  year  the  legislature  shifted  officers  and  re- 
sponsibilities at  the  behest  of  the  boss.  "Ripper 
biJls"  were  passed,  tearing  up  the  entire  adminis- 
trative systems  of  important  municipalities.  The 
city  was  made  the  plaything  of  the  boss  and  the 
machine. 

Throughout  the  constant  shifts  that  our  city 
governments  have  undergone  one  may.  however, 
discern  three  general  plans  of  government. 

The  first  was  the  centering  of  power  in  the  city 
council,  whether  composed  of  two  chambers— a 
board  of  aldermen  and  a  common  council— as  in 
New  York.  Huladelphia,  and  Chicago,  o.-  of  one 
council,  as  in  many  lesser  cities.    It  soon  became  " 
apparent  that  a  large  body,  whose  chief  function 
IS  l^^slation,  is  utterly  unfit  to  look  after  ad- 
ministrative details.     Such  a  body,  in  order  to 
do  business,  must  act  through  committees.     Re- 
sponsibiUty  is  scattered.     Favoritism  is  possible 
in  letting  contracts,  in  making  appointments,  in 
depositing  city  funds,  in  making  public  improve- 
ments, in  purchasing  supplies  and  real  estate,  and 


1 


:  i  !'■ . 


'  i»'j 


I'm 


I'll 


1 

um 

m 

Ifl'%*t 


1' 

'  1 


«         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
in  .  thousand  other  way..    So.  by  controlling  the 
appointment  of  committees,  a  shrewd  manipulator 
could  virtually  control  all  the  municipal  activities 
and  make  himself  overlord  of  the  city. 

The  second  plan  of  government  attempted  to 
make  the  mayor  the  controlling  force.    It  reduced 
the  council  to  a  legislative  body  and  exalted  the 
mayor  into  a  real  executive  with  power  to  appoint 
and  to  remove  heads  of  departments,  thereby 
making  him  responsible  for  the  city  administra- 
tion.   Brooklyn  under  Mayor  Seth  Low  was  an 
encouraging  example  of  this  type  of  government. 
But  the  type  was  rarely  found  in  a  pure  form. 
The  politician  succeeded  either  in  electing  a  sub- 
servient mayor  or  in  curtailing  the  mayor's  author- 
ity by  having  the  heads  of  departmenta  elected  or 
appointed  by  the  council  or  made  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  council.    If  the  cc -r  ,,1  hgy  tjjg 
key  to  the  city  treasury,  the  boss  i«igu.j,  for  coun- 
cilmen  from  properly  gerrymandered  wards  could 
usually  be  trustel  to  execute  his  will. 

The  third  form  of  government  was  government 
by  boards.  Here  it  was  attempted  to  place  the 
administration  of  various  municipal  activities  in 
the  hands  of  indepwdent  boards.  Thus  a  board 
had  charge  of  the  police,  another  of  the  fire  de- 


THE  POL'TICIAN  AND  THE  CITY       «7 
partment,  another  of  public  works,  and  ao  on. 
Often  there  were  a  dozen  of  these  boards  and 
not  infrequently  over  thirty  in  a  single  city,  as 
in  Philadelphia.     Sometimes  tJiese  boards  were 
elected  by  the  people;  sometimes  they  were  ap- 
pointed by  the   council;   sometimes  they  were 
appointed  by  the  mayor;  in  one  or  two  instances 
they  were  appointed  by  the  Governor.     Often 
their  powers  were  shared  with  committees  of  the 
council ;  a  committee  on  police,  for  instance,  shared 
with  the  Board  of  Police  Ck)mmi8sioners  the  direc- 
tion of  police  affairs.    Usually  these  boards  were 
responsible  to  no  one  but  the  electorate  (and  that 
remotely)  and  were  entirely  without  coBrdination, 
a  mere  agglomeration  of  independent  creations 
generally  with  ill-defined  powers. 

Sometimes  the  laws  provided  that  not  all  Uie 
members  of  the  appointive  boards  should  "belong 
to  the  same  political  party"  or  "be  of  the  same 
political  opinion  in  state  and  national  issues. "  It 
was  clearly  the  intention  to  wipe  out  the  parti- 
san complexion  of  such  boards.  But  this  device 
was  no  stumbling-block  to  the  host  Whatever 
might  be  the  "opinions"  on  national  matters  of 
the  men  appointed,  they  usually  had  a  perfect 
understanding  with  the  appointmg  authorities  as 


i 


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4lf 


,.f 


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i  i 


<   ' 


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f! 
ill 

! 

Hi 


ii 


«•         THE  BOBS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
to  local  mattew.    A.  Uto  m  1888.  a  Democratic 
mayor  of  New  York  (Van  Wyck)  summarily  ns- 
moved  the  two  Republican  members  of  the  Board 
of  Police  Commissioners  and  replaced  them  by 
Republicans  after  his  own  heart.    In  truth,  the 
bipartiam  board  fitted   snuf^y  into  the  dual 
party  regime  that  existed  in  many  cities,  where- 
by  the  county  offices  were  apportioned  to  one 
party,  the  city  offices  to  the  other,  and  the  spoils 
to  both.    It  is  doubtful  if  any  device  was  ever 
more  deceiving  and  less  satisfactory  than  the  bi- 
PArtizan  board. 

The  reader  must  not  be  led  to  think  that  any 
one  of  these  plans  of  municipal  government  pre- 
vailed at  any  one  time.  They  all  still  exist,  con- 
temporaneously  with  the  newer  commission  phn 
and  the  city  manager  plan. 

Hand  in  hand  with  these  experiments  in  govern- 
mental  mechanisms  for  the  growing  cities  went  a 
i^idly  increasing  expenditure  of  public  funds. 
Streete  had  to  be  laid  out.  paved,  and  lighted; 
■ewers  extended;  fir--fighting  fadlities  increased; 
schools  built;  parks,  boulevards,  and  playgrounds 
acqwred,  and  scores  of  new  activities  undertaken 
by  the  municipality.  Ail  these  brought  grist  to 
the  politician's  mill.    So  did  his  control  of  the 


;  l.fct. 


THK  POUnciAN  AND  THE  CITY  m 
police  force  and  the  police  courts.  And  finally, 
with  the  city  reaching  ita  eager  streets  far  out 
into  the  country,  came  the  necessity  for  rapid 
transporUtion.  which  opened  up  for  the  municipal 
politician  a  new  El  Dorado. 

Under  our  laws  the  right  of  a  pubUc  service 
corporation  to  occupy  the  public  streets  is  based 
upon  a  franchise  from  the  dty.  Before  the  days 
of  the  referendum  the  franchise  was  granted  by 
the  dty  council,  usually  as  a  monopoly,  sometimes 
in  perpetuity;  and.  until  comparatively  recent 
years,  the  corporation  paid  nothing  to  the  dty 
for  the  rights  it  acquired. 

When  we  reflect  tiiat  witiun  a  few  decades  of 
tiie  discovery  of  electric  power,  every  dty.  large 
and  small,  had  its  street-car  and  electriolight 
service,  and  that  most  of  these  cities,  tiirough 
tiieir  councils,  gave  away  these  monopoly  righta 
for  long  periods  of  time,   we  can  imagine  the 
princely  aggregate  of  the  gifts  which  public  s«- 
vice  corporations  have  recdved  at  the  hands  of 
our  munidpal  governments,  and  the  nature  of 
the  temptations  these  corporations  were  able  to 
spread  before  tiie  greedy  gaze  of  those  whose 
gesture  would  seal  the  grant. 
But  it  was  not  only  at  the  granting  of  the 


"   ( 


M  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  ICACHINE 
innchise  that  the  bou  and  hia  madiine  lought 
for  ipoila.  A  public  aervioe  corporation,  being 
constantly  asked  f<w  favors,  is  a  continuing  op- 
portunity for  the  political  manipulator.  Public 
service  corporations  could  share  their  patron- 
age with  the  politician  in  exchange  for  favors. 
Through  their  control  of  many  jobs,  and  through 
their  influence  with  banks,  they  could  show  a 
wide  assortment  of  favors  to  the  politician  in 
return  for  his  influence;  for  instance,  m  the  matter 
of  traffic  regulations,  permission  to  tear  up  the 
streets,  inspection  laws,  rate  schedules,  tax  assess- 
ments, coroners'  reports,  or  juries. 

Yfbea  the  politician  went  to  the  voters,  he 
adroitly  concealed  his  designs  under  the  name  of 
one  of  the  national  parties.  Voters  were  asked 
to  vote  for  a  Republican  or  a  Democrat,  not  for  a 
policy  of  municipal  administration  or  other  local 
policies.  The  system  <rf  committees,  caucuses, 
conventions,  built  up  in  every  city,  was  linked 
to  the  national  oiganiaation.  A  dtisen  of  New 
York,  for  instance,  was  not  asked  to  vote  for  the 
Broadway  Franchise,  which  raised  such  a  scandal 
in  the  eighties,  but  to  vote  for  aldermen  running 
on  a  national  tariff  ticket  1 
The  electorate  was  somnolent  and  permitted 


rai  rOJJfKiAS  AND  THE  CITY       ei 

thepoBticiMtoh.v«W,wv.    TV  multitude, 
of  the  citj-  cMw  priiwHly  from  two  «utc«.. 
fiom  Europe  and  fro.  tbe  runJ  di.triet.  ol  our 
own  country.    T1k«  who  came  to  the  dty  ftom 
the  country  were  prompted  by  indu»trial  motive.- 
thqr  wught  wider  oppwtunitie.;  they  won  be- 
came  immerwNl  in  their  ta^  .nd  paid  Httle 
attention  to  public  quertion..    Tile  foreign  immi- 
grant, who  oonge.ted  our  citie.  were  alien  to 
American  inrtitutions.     They  formed  a  hetero- 
geneous  population  to  whom  a  common  ideal  of 
Sovemment  was  unknown  and  democracy  a  word 
wrthout  meaning.     The*  foreigners  were  eawly 
mflueneed  and  easily  led.    Under  the  old  natural- 
ization laws.  Uiey  were  herded  into  the  courts 
just  before  election  and  admitted  to  citizenship. 
In  New  York  tiiey  were  naturalized  under  tiie 
guidance  of   ward-heelers.   not   'Vrequentiy  at 
tile  rate  of  one  a  minutel    And.  before  tiie  day. 
of  regirtration  laws,  ballots  were  distributed  to 
^em  and  tiiey  were  led  to  Uie  polls,  as  charity 
children  are  given  excuraon  tickets  and  are  led 
to  their  annua!  summer's  day  picm'c. 

The  dipshod  meUiod.  of  naturalization  have 
been  revealed  since  tiie  new  law  (1806)  has  been 
in  force.    Tens  of  thousands  of  voters  who  tiiought 


l)i< 


-ml 


if  I 


■  I; 


<      . 
('    \ 

'  'i 

4 


11: 


m 


Ot        THB  B06S  AND  THE  MACBINB 

they  were  dtiieiu  found  tlwt  their  papers  wen 
only  dedaratMHU  of  intentioiis,  or  "fint  pi^Mra." 
Other  tent  ot  thoiuands  h«d  loit  even  theie  p^>en 
and  oould  not  designate  the  courts  that  had  issued 
them;  and  other  thousands  found  that  the  courts 
that  had  naturalised  them  were  without  jurisdic- 
tion in  the  matter. 

Ic  was  not  merdy  among  these  newcomers  that 
the  b'  1  found  his  opportunities  for  carrying 
decH'.'-j.  The  doise  city  blodu  were  convenient 
lodfjlng  places  for  "floaters."  Just  before  elec- 
tions, the  population  of  the  downtown  wards  in 
the  larger  cities  increased  surprisingly.  The  boss 
fully  availed  himself  of  the  psychological  and 
social  reactions  of  the  city  upon  the  individual, 
knowing  instinctively  how  much  more  easily  men 
are  corrupted  when  they  are  merged  in  the  crowd 
and  have  lost  their  sense  of  personal  responsibility. 

It  was  in  the  city,  then,  that  industrial  politics 
found  tbeir  natural  habitat.  We  shall  now  scru- 
tinize more  closely  some  of  the  devdopmimts 
whidb  arose  out  of  such  an  mvironment. 


CEAFTER  V 


TAlUfAMT  BAIX 


B.POM  the  Revoluti«n«y  Wm  nuinerou.  aod- 
etie.  we«  oig«u«d  to  iJd  the  c.u«  of  Inde- 
pendence.    Thei«  were  aometimes  called  "Son. 
of  Liberty  ■  and  not  infcequently  "Son.  of  St 
Tammany. "  after  an  Indian  bmve  whom  tradiUon 
had  dirouded  in  virtue.    The  name  was  probably 
adopted  to  burlesque  the  royalist  «Kaeties  named 
after  St.  George.  St.  David,  or  St.  Andrew.   After 
the  war  these  sodeUes  vanished.    But,  in  New 
York  City,  William  Moonqr.  an  upholsterer.  «s 
organized  the  local  society  as  "Tammany  Society 
or  Columbian  Order."  devoted  ostensibly  to  good- 
feUowship  and  charity.     Its  officers  bore  Indian 
titles  and  iu  ceremomM  were  more  or  less  bor- 
rowed from  the  red  man,  not  merely  because  of 
then-  um-que  and  picturesque  character,  but  to 
emphaaze  the  truly  American  and  anti-British 
convictions  of  its  members. 


»  4'.' 


'mJ 


,1 


■••■ii 

I  '  'J., 
,;i  ■  - 

f    :■'  ■. 

'.:'t 
"■      :f 

'•IP 


64         THB  B06B  AKD  THB  ICACHINB 

The  todety  attracted  that  dement  of  the  town'i 
population  which  delighted  in  the  crude  oece- 
moniaU  and  the  ■timulating  potiont  that  alwaya 
accompanied  them,  mortly  imall  ahopkeepen  and 
mechanics.  It  waa  among  thia  dau  that  the 
spirit  of  discontent  against  the  power  of  Feder- 
alism was  strongest— a  spirit  that  has  often  be- 
come decisive  in  our  political  fortunes. 

This  was  stni  the  day  of  the  "genUeman."  of 
small  clothes,  silver  shoe-bucklca,  powdned  wigs, 
and  lace  ruffles.  Only  taxpayers  and  propertied 
persons  could  vote,  and  public  office  was  still 
invt-sted  with  certain  praogatives  and  privileges. 
Democracy  was  Ijttle  more  than  a  name.  Here 
was,  however,  a  distinct  division  of  sentiment, 
and  the  drift  towards  democracy  was  aocderated 
by  immigration.  The  newcomers  were  laigdy  of 
the  humble  dasses,  among  whom  the  doctrines  of 
democratic  discontent  were  wdcome. 

Tammany  soon  became  partisan.  He  Fed- 
eralist members  withdrew,  probably  influenced 
by  Washington's  warning  against  secret  political 
societies.  By  1798  it  was  a  Republican  dub 
meeting  in  various  Uvems,  finally  sdecting  Mart- 
Ung's  "Long  Room"  for  its  nightly  carousals. 
SiM^n  after  this  a  new  constitution  was  adopted 


liU 


1 


.''.! 


1 .    lit 


''m 


"KWJCorr  nsowTKiN  tbt  chait 

(ANSI  ond  ISO  TEST  CHABT  No.  5) 


112 


|Z2 

12.0 


mi^lti^ 


_^  APPLIED  IM/QE    In 

aar-  '^S^  Catt  Ualn  StrMi 

^S  Roch.«tet,   N*.  York        14609       USA 

■,^B  (^'6)  «a2  -  0300  -  Phone 

^S  (^'6}  288-5989  -Fax 


'h 


i 


p: 


In 


M      '   THE  BOSS  A^D  THK  MACHINE 

The  society  attracted  tJi*t  efcaeat  irf  tile  town's 
population  which -delighted  in  tW  «ude  cere- 
moniab  and  the  sUniukting  potfcw  (4,t  always 
accompanied  them,  mart^  milU  »fe^Aeepers  and 
mechanics.  It '  wm  afflo«g  tW,  «i,«^  that  ^^ 
spirit  of  diiicontent  agminat  the  «w«r  of  Feder- 
alsm  was  strongert-a  spirit  th^t  hw  often  1  .. 
come  decuive  in  dwr  poJitical  tartaaas. 

This  wa«  stiU  the  day  of  the  "geatleman,"  of 
smaH  eloth«.  «Jve,  shoe-buckJ,^  powdered  wigs, 
and  !a«,  rm^    WB^  W^^  and  propertied 

mve,t»d  with  eel!»l^.tr^e»  and  privil-^es 
Donocracy  was  h'^  more  than  a  name.  There 
was,  howv-er,  a  distinct  dividoB  of  sentim<mi, 
and  the  drift  towards  d«iio«»acy  was  accelerated' 
by  immigration.  The  neweomettj-were  largely  of 
the  humble  classes,  among  whom  the  doctrines  of 
democralie  discraiteat  were  wrieoBBe. 

Tammany  soon  became  peikmu  The  Fed- 
eralist members  withdrew,  pwferirfy  influenced 
by  Washington's  wart.^  aggia^  ««ret  poHtical 
«>cieties.  By  1798  k  was  a  Republican  club 
meeting  jn  varioas  Wrtma,  finally  selecting  Mart- 
Kng's  "Long  Boom"  for  its  nighUy  carousals. 
Soon  after  this  a  new  constitution  was  adopted 


j>J 


■v;-^  r 


r* 


'  I 


il 


ii 


■;l 


TAMMANY  HALL  es 

which  adroitly  transfonned  the  society  into  a 
compact  political  machine,  every  member  sub- 
scribing to  the  oath  that  he  would  resist  the 
encroachments  of  centralized  power  over  the 
SUte. 

Tradition  has  it  that  the  transformer  of  Tam- 
many into  the  first  compact  and  effective  political 
machine  was  Aaron  Bun-.    There  is  no  direct 
evidence  that  he  wrote  the  new  constitution. 
But  there  is  collateral  evidence.    Indeed,  it  would 
not  have  been  Biurian  had  he  left  any  writtetf 
evidence  of  his  connection  with  the  organization. 
For  Burr  was  one  of  those  intriguers  who  revel 
in  mystery,  who  always  hide  their  designs,  and 
never  bind  themselves  in  writing  without  leaving 
a  dozen  loopholes  for  escape.     He  was  by  this 
time  a  prominent  figure  in  American  politics.     His 
skill  had  been  displayed  in  Albany,  both  in  the 
passing  of  legislation   and    in   out-maneuvering 
Hamilton  and  having  himself  elected  United  States 
Senator  against  the  powerful  combination  of  the 
Livingstons  and  the  Schuylers.    He  was  plotting 
for  the  Presidency  as  the  campaign  of  1800  ap- 
proached, and  Tammany  was  to  be  the  fulcrum 
to  lift  him  to  this  conspicuous  place. 
Under  the  ostensible  leadership  of  Matthew  L. 


b"l 


■II 
ill 


1; 


I  Si      >  1 


''•  .*■ 


66  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
Davis,  Burr's  chief  lieutenant,  every  ward  of  the 
city  was  carefully  organized,  a  polling  list  was 
made,  scores  of  new  members  were  pledged  to 
Tammany,  and  during  the  three  days  of  voting 
(in  New  York  Stete  until  1840  elections  lasted 
three  days),  while  Hamilton  was  making  eloquent 
speeches  for  the  Federalists,  Burr  was  secretly 
manipulating  the  wires  of  his  machine.  Burr 
and  Tammany  won  in  New  York  City,  though 
Burr  failed  to  win  the  Presidency.  The  political 
career  of  this  remarkable  organization,  which  has 
survived  over  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  of 
stormy  history,  was  now  well  launched. 

Prom  that  time  to  the  present  the  history  of 
Tammany  Hall  is  a  tale  of  victories,  followed  by 
occasional  disclosures  of  corruption  and  favorit- 
ism; of  quarrels  with  governors  and  presidents;  of 
party  fights  between  "up-state"  .an J  "city";  of 
skulking  when  its  sachems  weie  imweleome  in  the 
White  House;  of  periodical  displays  of  patriotism 
for  cloaking  its  grosser  crimes;  of  perennial  chari- 
ties for  fastening  itself  more  firmly  on  the  poorer 
populac«  which  has  always  been  the  source  of  its 
power;  of  colossal  municipal  enterprise  for  profit- 
sharing;  and  of  a  continuous  political  efficiency 
due  to  sagacious  leadership,  a  remarkable  adapta- 


*' 


% 


TAMMANY  HALL  vi 

baity  to  the  necessities  of  the  hour,  and  a  patience 
that  outlasts  every  "reform. " 

It  early  displayed  aU  the  traits  that  have  made 
it  successful,    in  1801,  for  the  purpose  of  carrj  ir.g 
city  elections,  it  provided  thirty-nine  men  with 
money  to  purchase  houses  and  loU  in  one  ward, 
and  seventy  men  with  money  for  the  same  pur- 
pose in  another  ward,  thus  manufacturing  free- 
holders for  polling  purposes.    In  1806  Benjamin 
Romaine,  a  grand  sachem,  was  removed  from 
the  office  of  city  controller  by  his  own  party  for 
acquiring  land  from  the  city  without  paying  for  it. 
In  1807  several  superintendents  of  city  institu- 
tions were  dismissed  for  frauds.     The  inspector 
of  bread,  a  sachem,  resigned  because  his  threat 
to  extort  one-third  of  the  fees  from  his  subordi- 
nates had  become  public.     Several  assessment 
collectors,  all  prominent  in  Tammany,  were  com- 
pelled to  reimburse  the  city  for  deficits  in  their 
accounts.     One  of  the  leading  aldermen  used  his 
influence  to  induce  the  city  to  sell  land  to  his 
brother-in-law  at   a  low     .uce,  and   then  bade 
the  city  buy  it  back  for  many  times  its  value. 
Mooney,  the  founder  of  the  society,  now  super- 
intendent of  the  almshouse,  was  caught  in  a  charac- 
teristic fraud.     His  salary  was  $1000  a  year,  with 


ri 


'ft 


mi 


«8  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
WOO  for  family  expense..  But  it  was  dif.«vered 
that  his  "expenses"  imounted  to  $4000  a  year, 
and  that  he  had  credited  to  himself  on  the  boolj 
$1000  worth  of  supplies  and  numerous  sums  for 
"trifles  for  Mrs.  Mooney." 

In  September,  1826,  the  Grand  Jury  entered 
an  indictment  against  Matthew  L.  Davis  and  a 
number  of  other  Tammany  men  for  defrauding 
several  banks  and  insurance  companies  of  over 
12.000,000.  This  created  a  tremendous  ^nsation. 
Political  influence  was  at  once  set  in  motion, 
and  only  the  minor  defendants  were  sent  to  the 
penitentiary. 

In  1829  Samuel  Swartwout,  one  of  the  Tam- 
many leaders,  was  appointed  Collector  of  the  Port 
of  New  York.  His  downfall  came  in  18S8,  and  he 
fled  to  Europe.  His  defalcations  in  the  Custom 
House  were  found  to  be  over  $1,222,700;  and  "to 
Swartwout"  became  a  useful  phrase  until  Tweed's 
day.  He  was  succeeded  by  Jesse  Hoyt,  another 
sachem  and  notorious  politician,  against  whom  sev- 
eral judgments  for  default  were  recorded  in  the 
Superior  Court,  which  were  satisfied  very  soon  after 
his  appointment.  At  this  time  another  Tammany 
chieftain.  W.  M.  Price.  United  States  District  Attor- 
ney for  Southern  New  York,  defaulted  for  $75,000. 


TAMBIANYHAIL  eS 

It  wu  in  IMl  that  the  oounca  oommonly  known 
as  "The  Forty  Thieves"  was  elected.  In  it  Wil- 
liam  M.  Tweed  served  his  apprenticeship.  Some 
of  the  maneuvers  of  this  council  and  of  other 
officials  were  divulged  by  a  Grand  Juiy  in  its  pre- 
sentment of  February  23,  IMS.  The  presentment 
sUtes:  "It  was  clearly  shown  that  enormous  sums 
of  money  were  spent  for  the  procurement  of 
railroad  grants  in  the  city,  and  that  towards  the 
decision  and  procurement  of  the  Eighth  Avenue 
railway  grant,  a  sum  so  large  that  would  startle 
the  most  credulous  was  expended;  but  in  conse- 
quence of  the  voluntary  absence  of  important 
witnesses,  the  Grand  Jury  wds  left  without  direct 
testimony  of  the  particular  recipients  of  the  dif- 
ferent amounts. " 

These  and  other  exposures  brought  on  a  num- 
ber of  amendments  to  the  city  charter,  surround- 
ing with  greater  safeguards  the  sale  or  lease  of 
city  property  and  the  letting  of  contracts;  and  a 
reform  council  was  elected.  Immediately  upon 
the  heels  of  this  reform  movement  followed  the 
shameful  regime  of  Fernando  Wood,  an  able, 
crafty,  unscrupulous  politician,  who  began  by 
announcing  himself  a  reformer,  but  who  soon  be- 
came a  boss  in  the  most  oflfensive  sense  of  that 


I'll 


70  THE  BOSS  AND  THB  BUCHINB 
tenn  — not,  however,  in  Tammany  Hall,  for  he 
waa  ousted  from  that  oiganiaation  after  hit  reVlec 
tion  aa  mayor  in  1856.  He  immediately  oiganized 
a  machine  of  his  own,  Mowrt  Hall.  Theintenae 
struggle  between  the  two  machine,  cost  the  city 
a  great  sum.  for  the  taxpayers  were  mulrted  to 
pay  the  bills. 

Through  the  anxi<  js  days  of  the  Civil  War 
when  the  minds  of  thoughtful  citixens  were  oc- 
cupied with  national  issues,  the  Ude  of  reform 
ebbed    and   flowed.      A   reform  candidate  was 
elected  mayor  in  1868.  but  Tammany  returned 
to  power  two  years  later  by  securing  the  election 
and  then  the  re«IecUon  of  John  T.  Hoffman. 
Hoffman  possessed  considerable  abihty  and  an 
attracUve  personality.    His  zeal  for  high  office, 
however,  made  Um  easily  amenable  to  the  ma- 
nipulators.  Tammany  made  him  Governor  and 
planned  to  name  him  for  President.    Behind  his 
popularity,  which  was  considerable,  and  screened 
by  the  greater  excitements  of  the  war.  reco  rtruc- 
tion.  and  the  impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson, 
lurked  the  King,  whose  exposures  and  confessions 
were  soon  to  amaze  everyone. 

The  chief  ringster  was  William  M.  Tweed,  and 
his  name  wiU  always  be  associated  in  the  public 


TAMMANY  HALL  n 

mind  with  political  bossdom.  Thia  is  hii  immor- 
tality. He  was  a  chairmaker  by  trade,  a  vulgar 
good  fellow  by  nature,  a  politician  by  circumstan- 
ces, a  boss  by  evolution,  r-.'  a  grafter  by  choice. 
He  became  grand  sachem  of  \'ammany  and  chair- 
man of  the  general  committee.  This  committee 
he  ruled  with  blunt  directness.  When  he  wanted 
a  question  carried,  he  failed  to  ask  for  the  negative 
votes;  and  soon  he  was  called  "the  Boss,"  a 
title  he  never  resented,  and  which  usage  has  since 
fixed  in  uur  politic:.  So  he  ruled  Tammany 
with  a  high  hand;  made  nomination^,  arbitrarily; 
bullied,  bought,  and  traded;  became  President  of 
the  Board  of  Supervisors,  thus  holding  the  key 
to  the  c'ty's  financial  policies;  and  was  elected 
State  Senator,  thereby  directing  the  granting  of 
legislative  favors  to  his  dty  and  to  his  corpora- 
tions. 

In  1868  Tammany  carritid  Hoffman  into  the 
Governor's  chair,  and  in  the  following  year  the 
Democrats  carried  the  State  legislature.  Tweed 
now  had  a  new  charter  passed  which  virtually  put 
New  York  City  into  his  pocket  by  placing  the 
finances  of  the  metropolis  entirely  n  the  hands 
of  a  Board  of  Apportionment  which  he  domi- 
nated.    Of  this  Board    the  mayor  of  the  city  was 


^1 


•f' 


'•  ., 


•i 


n        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BUCfllNB 
the  .Aaimun,  with  the  power  to  .ppoint  the  other 
member..   He  promptly  named  Tweed.  ComioUy. 
and  P.  B.  Sweeny.    Thi.  wm  the  famou.  Ring. 
The  mayor  wa«  A.  Oakey  Hall,  dubbed  "Elegant 
Oakey"  by  hi.  pal.  beciue  of  hi.  fondnew  for 
club..  Mciety,  pun.,  and  poem.;  but  Nart  called 
him  "O.  K.  Haul. "    Sweeny,  commonly  known  a. 
Pete.    wa.  a  lawyer  of  ability,  and  wa.  generally 
believed  to  be  the  plotter  of  the  quartet.    Nart 
tranrformed  his  middle  initial  B.  into  "Brain.." 
Connolly  was  ju.t  a  coarse  gangster. 

There  was  some  reawn  for  the  Ring',  faith  in 
Its  invulnerability.    It  controlled  Governor  and 
legislature,  wa.  formidable  in  the  national  council, 
of  the  DemocraUc  party,  and  it.  Governor  was 
widely  mentioned   for  the  prcidenUal  nomina- 
tion.    It  poHCMed  complete  power  over  the  city 
council,  the  mayor,  and  many  of  the  judges.    It 
was  in  partnership  with  Gould  and  Piske  of  the 
Erie,  then  reaping  great  harvest,  in  Wall  Street 
and  with  street  railway  and  other  public  «,rvicj 
corporations.    Through  untold  largess  jt  silenced 
rivaliy  from  within  and  criticism  from  without. 
And.  when  suspicion  first  raised  its  voice,  it  adroitly 
invited  a  committee  of  prominent  and  wealthy 
citizens,  headed  by  John  Jacob  Astor.  to  examine 


■l 


TAMBCANY  HALL  ts 

theoontroller'sHccounU.  After  »«  hours  «pent  in 
the  City  Hall  these  respectable  gentlemen  signed 
an  acquitment,  saying  that  "the  affairs  of  the  city 
under  the  charge  of  the  controller  are  administered 
in  a  correct  and  faithful  manner." 

Thus  intrenched,  the  Ring  levied  tribute  on 
every  municipal  activity.    Everyone  who  had  a 
charge  against  the  city,  either  for  work  done 
or  materials  furnished,  was  told  to  add  to  the 
amount  of  his  bill,  at  first  10%,  later  66%,  and 
finally  85%.     One  man  testified  that  he  was  told 
to  raise  to  WS.OOO  his  claim  of  $5000.    He  got  his 
$5000;  the  Ring  got  $50,000.    The  building  of 
the  Court  House,  still  known  as  "Tweed's  Court 
House,"  was  estimated  to  cost  $3,000,000,  but  it 
cost  many  times  that  sum.    The  item  "repairing 
fixtures"  amounted  to  $1,149,874.50,  before  the 
building  was  completed.    Forty  chairs  and  three 
Ubles  cost  $178,789.60;  thermometers  cost  $7500. 
G.  S.  Miller,  a  carpenter,  received  $360,747.61, 
and  a  plasterer  named  Gray,  $2,870,464.06  for 
nine  months*  "work. "  The  Timet  dubbed  him  the 
"Prince  of  Plasterers. "  "A  plasterer  who  can  cam 
$138,187  in  two  days  [December  20  and  21]  and 
that  in  the  depths  of  winter,  need  not  be  poor." 
Carpets  cost  $350,000,  most  of  the  Brussels  and 


•I 


I 


•ft: 
/■T  i 


^1 

111   -  ' 


M         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
A»niMter  going  to  the  New  Metropolitan  Hotel 
just  opened  by  Tweed's  son; 

The   Ring's   hold   upon   the   legislature   was 
through  bribery,  not  through  partizan  adhesion 
Tweed  himself  confessed  that  he  gave  one  man 
m  Albany  $600,000  for  buying  votes  to  pass  his 
charter;  and  Samuel  J.  Tilden  estimated  the  total 
cost  for  this  purpose  at  over  one  million  dollars 
Tweed  said  he  bought  five  Republican  senators 
for  $40,000  apiece.    The  vote  on  the  charter  was 
30  to  2  in  the  Senate,  116  to  5  in  the  Assembly 
Similar  sums  were  spent  in  Albany  in  securing 
corporate  favors.    The  Viaduct  Railway  Bill  is 
an  example.    This  bill  empowered  a  company 
practically  owned  by  the  Ring,  to  build  a  railway 
on  or  above  any  street  in  the  city.    It  provided 
that  the  city  should  subscribe  for  $5,000,000  of 
the  stock;  and  it  exempted  the  company  from  tax- 
aUon.    Collateral  bills  were  introduced  enabling 
the  company  to  widen  and  grade  any  streets,  the 
favorite  "job"  of  a  Tammany  grafter.    Fortu- 
nately for  the  city,  exposure  came  before  this 
monstrous  scheme  could  be  put  in  motion. 

Newspapers  in  the  city  were  heavily  subsidized 
Newspapers  in  Albany  were  paid  munificently 
for  prmting.     One  of  the  Albany  papers  received 


If'*- 


ur 


TAMMANY  HAIX  75 

$2OV.90O  for  one  year's  work  which  wm  worth  less 
than$10,000.  Half  a  dozen  reporters  of  the  lead- 
ing dailies  were  put  on  the  city  payroll  at  from 
$2000  to  $2500  a  year  for  "services/' 

The  Himalayan  size  of  these  swindles  and  their 
monumental  effrontery  led  the  New  York  Sun 
humorously  to  suggest  the  erection  of  a  statue  to 
the  principal  Robber  Baron,  "in  commemoraUon 
of  his  services  to  the  commonwealth."    A  letter 
was  sent  out  asking  for  funds.    There  were  a 
great  many  men  in  New  York,  the  Sun  thought 
who  would  not  be  unwilling  to  refuse  a  contribu- 
tion    But  Tweed  declined  the  honor.    In  its  issue 
of  March  14. 1871.  the  Sun  has  this  headline: 

A  GREAT  MAN'S  MODESTY 

THE  HON.  WILLIAM  M.  TWEED  DECLINB8  THE 
8TTN8  STATUE.  CHABACTEHlSTIC  LETTER  FROM 
THE  GREAT  NEW  YORK  PHILANTHROPIST  HE 
THINKS  THAT  VIRTUE  SHOULD  BE  ITS  OWN 
REWARD.  THE  MOST  REMARKABLE  LETTER  EVER 
WRITTEN  BY  THE  NOBLE  BENEFACTOR  OF  THE 
PEOPLE. 

Another  kind  of  memorial  to  his  genius  for  absorb- 
ing the  people's  money  was  awaiting  this  phil- 
anthropic buccaneer. 


ii 


?i 


If 


*•">' 


'  '1. 


r 


W         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINE 

Vulgar  ostentation  was  the  outward  badge  of 
these  civic  burglaries.    Tweed  moved  into  a  Fifth 
Avenue  mansion  and  gave  his  daughter  a  wedding 
at  which  she  received  «100.000  worth  of  gifts;  her 
weddmg  dress  was  a  «5000  creation.    At  Green- 
wich he  built  a  country  estate  where  the  stables 
w«e  framed  of  choice  mahogany.    Sweeny  hob- 
nobb«l  with  Jim  Piske  of  the  Erie,  the  Tweed  of 
Wal  Street,  who  went  about  town  dressed  in  loud 
checks  and  lived  with  his  harem  in  his  Opera 
House  on  Eighth  Avenue. 

Thoughtful  citizens  saw  these  things  going  on 
and  believed  the  city  was  being  robbed,  but  they 
could  not  prove  it.     There  were  two  attacking 
parties,  however,  who  did  not  wait  for  proofs- 
Thomas  Nast.  the  brilliant  cartoonist  of  Harper', 
Weekly,  and  the  New  York  Time».    The  incisive 
cartoons  of  Nast  appealed  to  the  imaginations  of 
all  classes:  even  Tweed  complained  that  his  illiter- 
ate following  could  "look  at  the  damn  pictures  " 
lie  trenchant  editorials  of  Louis  L.  Jennings  in 
the  Txw^  reached  a  thoughtful  drele  of  readers. 
In  one  of  these  editorials.  February  24.  1871  be- 
fore the  exposure,  he  said:  "There  is  absolutely 
nothmg-nothing  in  the  city-which  is  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  insatiable  gang  who  have  obtained 


TAMMANY  HALL  77 

•  ^^^y^''-  Th^y^'ngetagrandiu.ydi,. 
in«sed  at  any  time.  and.  as  we  have  seen,  the  legis- 
latuie  IS  completely  at  their  disposal  " 

FfaaJly  proof  did  come  and.  as  is  usual  in  such 
cases.  ,t  came  from  the  inside.    James  O'Brien, 
an  ex-shenff  and  the  leader  in  a  Democratic  "re- 
form  movement"  calling  itself  "Young  Democ- 
racy,    secured  the  appointment  of  one  of  his 
friends  as  clerk  in  the  controller's  office.    Tran- 
»^pts  of  the  accounts   were  made,  and  these 
OBnen  brought  to  the  Tinu>».  which  began  their 
publication.  July  8.  1871.    The  Ring  was  in  con- 
stemation.    It  offered  George  Jones,  the  proprie- 
tor  of  the  Ttmes.  $5,000,000  for  his  silence  and 
sent  a  well-known  banker  to  Nast  with  an  in- 

«nr  ^  *°  ^""""  ""'  ^"'^^  -*'"  -«» 

9100,000  for  "expenses." 

"Do  you  think  I  could  get  $200,000?"  inno- 
cently  asked  Nast. 

"I  believe  'rom  what  I  have  heard  in  the  bank 
tnat  you  might  get  it. " 
Aft«  some  reflection,   the  cartoonist  asked: 
Don  t  you  think  I  could  get  $500,000  to  make 
that  tnp?" 

,,.""![?  '^'  y°"  •="«  8«t  '>500.000  in  gold  to  drop 
this  Ring  business  and  get  out  of  the  country.  ' 


m 


it   , 


'    :'Vii 


TO         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

"WeU.  I  don't  think  I'U  do  it."  laughed  the 
•rtist.  "I  made  up  my  mind  not  long  ago  to  put 
some  of  those  fellows  behind  the  bars,  and  I  am 
going  to  put  them  there. " 

"Only  be  careful,  Mr.  Nast,  that  you  do  not 
first  put  yourself  in  a  coflSn,"  said  the  banker 
as  he  left. 

A  public  meeting  in  Cooper  Institute,  April  6, 
1871,  was  addressed  by  William  E.  Dodge,  Henry' 
Ward  Beecher,  William  M.  Evarts,  and  William  F. 
Havemeyer.    They  vehemently  denounced  Tweed 
and  his  gang.    Tweed  smiled  and  asked,  "Well, 
what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"    On  the 
4th  of  September,  the  same  year,  a  second  mass 
meeting  held   in  the  same  place  answered  the 
question  by  appointing  a  committee  of  seventy. 
Tweed,  Sweeny,  and  HaU,  now  alarmed  by  the 
disclosures  in  the  Timet,  decided  to  make  Connolly 
the  scap^oat,  and  asked  the  aldermen  and  super- 
visors to  appoint  a  committee  to  examine  his 
accounts.    By  the  time  the  committee  appeared 
for  the  examination  — its  purpose  had  been  well 
announced  — the  vouchers  for  1869  and  1870  had 
disappeared.     Mayor  Hall  then  asked  for  Con- 
nolly's resignation.     But  instead,  Connolly  con- 
sulted Samuel  J.  Tilden,  who  advised  him  tc 


TAMMANY  HALL  ^ 

!^  «  «en.  a«  h.s  deputy.    Thi,  turned  the 
tables  on  the  three  other  member,  of  the  RW 
whose  efforts  to  oust  both  ConnoUy  and  G^' 

ZZjTr  '"*'"^^— rthe'citil^i: 
contro  of  the  treasury  books,  and  the  Grand  J^, 
b^itsmquisitions.    Sw«.ny  and  Connolly  ^2 

W00.000  and  returned.  Hall's  case  was  presented 
to  a  grand  Jury  which  proved  to  be  pJ^T^ 
new  pa„el  was  ordered  but  failed  to^^^  ,t 
nd.ot»ent  because  of  lack  of  e,.dence.     H^w^ 

atirrbrrrts-,^«-"«^ 

TU     c   ^      .  .  twice  tned  in  187S 

^Jrst  tnal  resulted  in  a  disa«r«,n.en,  Te 
"^nd  m  a  conviction.  His  sentence  was  a  fin! 
of  «12.000  and  twelve  years'  !n,n„-  ™ 

!,„„.,       ,      '='''«' yeara  imprisonment.  When 

heamvedatthepenitentiaiy.heansweredtheT 
^ma^qu^tions.  "Whatoceupation?"  «Su^ 
man.  What  religion?"  "None."  He  served 
one  year  and  was  then  ..leased  on  a  flimsy  t^ 
cahty  by  the  Court  of  Appeals.  Civil  siu^I 
now  bought,  and,  unable  to  obtain  the  ^ZoZ 

bail  demanded,  thefallen  boss  wassenttoi^rr 


80         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

ewaped  to  Cuba,  Md  finally  to  Spain,  but  he  WM 
"gain  arrested,  returned  to  New  York  on  a  man-of- 
war.  and  put  into  Ludlow  Street  jail,  where  he 
died  April  18. 1878.  apparenUy  without  money  or 
mends. 

The  exact  amount  of  the  plunder  was  never 
"certained.    An  expert  accountant  employed  by 
the  housecleaners  estimated  that  for  three  years 
1868-71.  the  frauds  totaled  between  145.000.000 
and  WO.000.000.    The  estimate  of  the  aldermen's 
committee  was  $60,000,000.    Tweed  never  gave 
any  figures;  he  probably  had  never  counted  his 
gams,  but   merely   spent  them   as  they  came. 
O  Rourke.  one  ©f  the  gang,  estimated  that  the  Ring 
stole  abo- 1  «75.000.000  during  1865-71.  and  that 
"counting  vast  issues  of  fraudulent  bonds."  the 
looting  "probably  amounted  to  WOO.000.000. " 

The  stoiy  of  these  disclosures  circled  the  earth 
and  still  affects  the  popularjudgment  of  the  Ameri- 
can metropolis.  It  seemed  as  though  Tammany 
we«  forever  discredited.  But,  to  the  despair  of 
reformers,  in  1874  Tammany  returned  to  power 
electing  its  candidate  for  mayor  by  over  9000 
majority.  The  new  boss  who  maneuvered  this 
rapid  resurrecUon  was  John  Kelly,  a  stone-mason 
known    among   his  Irish   followers  as   "Honest 


£'011      j 


.     ■ 


.•1^ 


1i 


.(W8I  tuodaiiMfttJdqmjoJortI 


II:   > 


TAMMANY  HALL  n 

John."    B«,id«.  the  poUtkaU  pnbity  which  the 
occadon  demanded,  he  poMewKl  •  capMity  for 
knowing  men  and  lenaing  pubUc  opinion.    Thia 
«i«bled  him  to  lift  the  pwrtrate  ofg»ni«ition. 
He  persuaded  inch  men  aa  Samuel  J.  TUden,  the 
«>»»tiiiguia.ed  Uwyer.  Auguat  Bdmorl ,  a  leading 
financier.  Horatio  Seymour,  who  ha.  I>een  gover- 
nor,  and  Charles  O'Conor.  the  famous  advocate, 
to  become  sachems  under  him.    This  was  evi- 
dence of  reform  from  within.    CoBperation  with 
the  Bar  Association,  the  Taxpayers'  Association, 
and  other  similar  oiganiiations  evidenced  a  de- 
sire of  reform  from  without.    Kelly  "bossed "  the 
Hall  until  his  death,  June  1, 1886. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Richard  Croker,  a  machin- 
irt.  prize-fighter,  and  gang-leader.     Cioker  be- 
gan  his  official  career  as  a  court  attendant  under 
the  notorious  Judge  Barnard  and  later  was  an 
engineer  in  the  service  of  the  city.    These  phtces 
he  held  by  Tammany  favor,  and  he  was  so  useful 
that  in  1868  he  was  made  alderman.    A  quarrei 
with  Tweed  lost  him  the  phice.  but  a  «jconcilia- 
tion  soon  landed  him  in  the  lucrative  office  of 
Superintendent  of  Market  Fees  and  Bents,  under 
Connolly.    In  1873  he  was  elected  coroner  and 
ten  years  later  was  appointed  fire  commissioner. 


m 


'Mil 


m 


M        THB  B08B  AND  THE  MACHINI 
Hi.  career  m  boea  wu  marked  by  mucfa  politioal 
clevemew  and  caution  and  by  ao  equal  dcgiw  ol 
moral  obtuiencH. 

The  triumph  0/  Tammany  in  18M  was  followed 
by  .uch  ill-diigulMd  comik^tion  that  the  dtisena 
of  Now  Yorit  were  again  roiued  from  their  apathy 
The  inveetigaUon.  of  the  FaMett  Committee  of 
the  SUte  Senate  two  years  praviouily  had  shown 
how  deep  the  tentacles  of  Tammany  were  thrust 
mto  the  adminUtrative  departments  of  the  city. 
The  Senate  now  appointed  another  investigat- 
ing committee,  of  which  Chuence  Lexow  was  the 
chairman  and  John  W.  Goff  the  counsel.    The 
Police  Department  came  under  its  special  scru- 
Uny.    The  disclosures  revealed  the  connivance  of 
the  poUce  in  stupendous  election  frauds.     The 
President  of  the  Polios  Board  himself  had  distri- 
buted at  the  polls  the  policemen  who  committed 
these  frauds.     It  was  further  revealed  that  vice 
and  crime  under  police  protection    had   been 
capitalised  on  a  great  scale.    It  was  worth  money 
to  be  a  policeman.    One  police  captain  testified 
he  had  paid  $15,000  for  his  promotiomi:  another 
paui  $12,000.  It  cost  $800  to  be  appointed  patrol- 
man.   Over  six  hundred  policy-shops  were  open, 
each  paying  $1500  a  month  for  protection;  pool- 


TAMICANY  HALL  as 

|Mid  ISOO  ft  month;  Iwwdy-hoiUM.  from  «U 
to  ISO  per  month  pwimiute.  And  their  patiwu 
pftW  whatever  th«y  oouM  be  bladmwiled  out  of; 
■tree^wallnn,  whatever  thej-  could  be  wheedled 
out  of;  laloons,  $n  per  month;  pawnbroken. 
thieves  and  thu«a  shared  with  the  police  their 
profits,  as  did  corporatimu  and  others  seeldng 
not  only  favors  but  thdr  rights.  The  commit- 
tee in  its  sUtement  to  the  Grand  Jury  (March, 
18M)  esUmated  that  the  annual  plunder  from 
these  sources  was  over  $7,000,000. 

During  the  committee's  sessions  Croker  was  in 
Europe  on  important  burliness.  But  he  found  time 
to  order  the  closing  of  disreputable  resorts,  and, 
though  he  was  only  a  private  citizen  and  three 
thousand  miles  away,  his  orders  were  promptly 
obeyed. 

Aroused  by  these  disclosures  and  stimulated 
by  the  lashing  sermons  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Jf, 
PaiUiurst,  the  citixens  of  New  YorK,  in  1804, 
elected  a  reform  government,  with  William  L. 
Strong  as  Mayor.  His  administration  set  up  for 
the  metropolis  a  new  stendard  of  city  manage- 
ment. Ck)louel  George  E.  Waring  organized,  for 
the  first  time  in  the  city's  history,  an  eflScient 
streetdeaning  department.     Theodore  Roosevelt 


i, 


ii 


M         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
was  appointed  Police  ConuniMioner.    These  men 
and  theip  associates  gave  to  New  York  a  period 
of  thnfty  municipal  housekeeping. 

But  the  city  returned  to  its  filth.    After  the 
incorporation   of   Greater   New  York    and  the 
decUon  of  Robert  A.  Van  Wyck  as  its  mayor 
the  great  beast  of  Tammany  arose  and  extended 
lU  eager  claws  over  the  vast  area  of  the  new  city 
The  Mazet  Committee  was  appointed  by  the 
legislature  in  1899  to  investigate   rumora  of  re- 
newed corruption.     But  the  inquiry  which  fol- 
lowed wa^  not  as  penetrating  nor  as  free  from 
partizan  bias  as  thoughtful  citizens  wished.     The 
prmcipal  exposure  was  of  the  Ice  Trust,  an  at- 
tempt to  monopolize   the  city's   ice   supply,  in 
which  city  officials  were  stockholder,  the  mayor 
to  the  extent  of  5000  shares,  valued  at  $500,000 
It  was  shown,  too.  that  Tammany  leaders  were 
stockholders  m  corporations  which  received  favors 
frem  the  city.     Governor  Roosevelt,  however,  re- 
fused to  remove  Mayor  Van  Wyck  because  the 
evidence  against  him  was  insufficient. 

The  most  significant  testimony  before  the 
Mazet  Committee  was  that  given  by  Boss  Cre- 
ker  himself.      His    last   public   office  had  been 


TAMMANY  HALL  ss 

that  of  City  Chamberlain,  1889-90,  at  a  salary 
of  $25,000.     Two  years  later  he  purchased  for 
$230,000  an  interest  in  a  stock-farm  and  paid  over 
$100,000  for  some  noted  race-horses.    He  spent 
over  half  a  million  doUars  on  the  English  race- 
track in  three  years  and  was  reputed  a  milhon- 
aire,  owning  large  blocks  of  city  real  esUte.    He 
told  the  committee  that  he  virtually  determined 
all  city  nominations;  and  that  all  candidates  were 
assessed,  even  judicial  candidates,  from  $10,000 
to   $25,000  for  their  nominations.      'We  try  to 
have  a  pretty  effective  organization— that's  what 
we  are  there  for,"  he  explained.     "We  are  giv- 
ing the  people  pure  organization  government," 
even  though  the  organizing  took  "a  lot  of  time" 
and  was  "very  hard  work. "    Tammany  members 
stood  by  one  another  and  helped  each  other,  not 
only  in  politics  but  in  busmess.     "We  want  the 
whole  business  [city  business]  if  we  can  get  it." 
If  "we  win,  we  expect  everyone  to  stand  by  us." 
Then  he  uttered  what  must  have  been  to  every 
citizen  of  understanding  a  self-evident  truth,  "I 
am  working  for  my  pockets  all  the  time.  ' 

Soon  afterwards  Croker  retired  to  his  Irish 
castle,  relinquishing  the  leadership  to  Charles 
Murphy,  the  present  boss.     The  growing  alert- 


'.  -!.| 


li 


M  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
n««  of  the  voters,  however,  makes  Murphy's 
task  a  more  difficult  one  than  that  of  any3  U. 
pmlecesson,.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  nature  of  the 
machine  has  changed  during  all  the  yea„  of  its 
history.  Tweed  and  Croker  we,«  only  natuJd 
products  of  the  system.  Thr  typify  the  vulgar 
climax  of  organized  looting. 

In  191S  the  Independent  Democrate.  Republi- 
cans  and  Progressives  united  in  a  fusion  move- 
ment.   They  nominated  and.  after  a  most  spirited 
campaign,  elected  John  Purroy  Mitchel  as  mayor 
He  was  a  young  man.  not  yet  forty,  had  held 
important  city  offices,  and  President  Wilson  had 
appomted  him  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York 
His  experience,  his  vigor,  ability,  and  straight- 
dealing  commended  him   «  the  friends  of^ 

Mrr;.r'  *'"'^  ''^  -»*  disappoint 
"^e  M  tchel  rtgmie  set  a  new  record  for  clean  and 
efficient  municipal  administration.    Men  of  high 
character   and   ability   were   enlisted   in   pubL 
service,  and  the  Police  Department,  under  Com- 
missioner Woods,  achieved  a  new  usefulness    The 
decent  citizena.  not  alone  in  the  metropolis,  but 
throughout  the  countiy.  believed  with  Theodore 
Roosevelt  that  Mr.  Mitchel  was  "the  best  mayor 
New  York  ever  had."    But  neither  the  effective- 


TAMBIANY  HALL  87 

ness  of  his  •dminutration  nor  the  combined  ef- 
forts of  the  friends  of  good  government  could 
save  him  from   the  designs  of  Tammany  Hall 
when,  in  1917,  he  was  a  candidate  for  reelection. 
Through  a  tactical  blunder  of  the  Pusionists,  a 
smaU  Republican  group  was  permitted  to  control 
the  party  primaries  and  nominate  a  candidate 
of  its  own;    the    Sociali^a,  greatly  augmented 
by  various  pacifist  groups,  made  heavy  inroads 
am  ag  the  foreign-bom  voters.    And.  while  the 
whole  power  and  finesse  of  Tammany  were  as- 
siduously  undermining    the    mayor's    strength, 
ethnic,  religious,  partiian,  and  geographical  preju- 
dices combined  to  elect  the  machine  candidate. 
Judge  Hylan.  a  comparatively  unknown  Brooklyn 
magistrate. 

How  could  Tammany  regain  its  power,  and  that 
usually  within  two  years,  after  such  disclosures  as 
we  have  seen?  The  main  reason  is  the  scientific 
efficiency  of  the  organization.  The  victory  of  Burr 
in  New  York  in  1800  was  the  first  triumph  of  the 
first  ward  machine  in  America,  and  Tammany  has 
forgotten  neither  this  victory  nor  the  methods  by 
which  it  was  achieved.  The  organization  which 
was  then  set  in  moUon  has  simply  been  enlarged 


t'M 


n 


I 


88         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

M«.  m  fact,  two  organfeations.  Tammany  Hall 
the  pohtical  m«hi„e.  and  Tammany  Sod^^e 

«  ruled  by  ««,hem,  elected   by  the   membe«. 
Both  ™jan.zat.o„s.   however,  are  one  in  spirit. 
We  need  concern  ou^elves  only  with  the  organi- 
zation  of  Tammany  Hall. 
The  framework  of  Tammany  Hall',  machin- 

known,  m  the  phraseology  of  Burr's  day,  as  "the 
Democrafc-Republican  Gene«I  CommiL."  It 
«  a  ve^  democ„.tic  body  composed  of  ..pr.,en- 
taUves  from  every  assembly  district,  apportioned 
^rdmg  to  the  number  of  voters  in  the  di  J^^ 
The  present  apportionment  is  one  committee- 
man for  every  fifteen  votes,    n^ismakesacot: 

fi«t  that  It  ,s  large  enough  to  keep  close  to  the 
voters;  and  second,  that  its  assessment  of  ten 
doUan,  a  member  brings  in  $90,000  a  year  to 

stated    m^fngs    and    appoinU   subcommittees, 
ers  of  the  assembly  districts  and  the  chairman 


TAMMANY  HALL  m 

and  treasurer  rf  the  county  committee,  is  the 
real  working  body  of  the  great  committee.    It  at- 
tends to  all  important  routine  matters,  selects  can- 
didates for  office,  and  conducts  their  campaigns. 
It  is  customary  for  the  members  of  the  gene-al 
committee  to  designate  the  district  leaders  for  the 
executive  committee,  but  they  are  elected  by  their 
own  districU  respectively  at  the  annual  primary 
elections.    The  district  leader  is  a  very  important 
wheel  in  the  machine.    He  not  only  leads  his 
district  but  represents  it  on  the  executive  com- 
mittee; and  this  brotherhood  of   leaders  forms 
the  potent  oligarchy  of  Tammany.    Its  sanction 
crowns  the  high  chieftain,  the  boss,  who,  in  turn, 
must  be  constantly  on  the  alert  that  his  throne  is 
not  undermined;  that  is  to  say,  he  and  Us  district 
leaders  must  "play  politics  "  within  their  own  baili- 
wicks to  keep  their  heads  on  their  own  shoulders. 
After  their  enfranchisement  in  New  York  (1917) 
women  were  made  eligible  to  the  general  and  ex- 
ecutive committees.     Thirty-seven  were  at  once 
elected  to  the  executive  committee,  and  plans  were 
made  to  give  them  one-half  of  the  representation 
on  the  general  committee. 

Each  of  the  twenty-three  assembly  districts  is  in 
turn  divided  into  election  districte  of  about  400 


(  ;. 


'J' 


) 

I 


■:{ 


«»        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINB 
votew,  e«h  with  .  p«dnct  captain  who  i.  «. 
quainted  with  everr  voter  in  M  ■ 

keen.  fr.„i,       *  "  ™  Pnxanct  and 

keep,  track,  a.  far  a-  powible.  of  hi,  .ir«i„  T 

«»d  a  club  hou*e.  where  the  voter,  can  go  inZ 
even.ng  and  enjoy  a  «noke.  a  bottle^dTn.^" 
or  less  quiet  game.  *"* 

This  organization  is  never  dormant.    And  this 

-r:it^ro::cr:rzt"r.^ 
»rt::stv::j^---i^^^^^ 

tiJn     Ev  ''""^"**'  ''^'P  ««1  «tten- 

fol7      .  ,         ""*  headquarter,,  given  work,  or 
food  or  shelter.   Tammany  is  his  practical  friend 
and  m  retm.  he  is  merely  to  become  natuS 
as  qmckly  „  p„«JWe  under  the  wardsCr^ 

Tammany  captain  and  by  theg«ceofaTamm' 
^dge.  and  then  to  vota  the  Tamm^^Hrf 
The  new  cfzen's  lessons  in  political  scienL  are  2l" 
flavored  w,th  highly  poetical  notions 

Tammany's  machinery  enable,  a  house-to- 
house  canvass  to  be  made  in  one  day.  b""^ 
-achmery  must  be  oiled.  There  are  three  ^^^ 
of  the  nec««a,y  lubricant:  oifices.  jobs,  thelir^ 


TAMliANYHALL  91 

favon;  these  are  dependent  on  winning  the  elec- 
tions. From  its  very  earliest  days,  fraud  at  the 
polls  has  been  a  Tammany  practice.  As  long  as 
property  qualifications  were  required,  money  was 
furnished  for  buying  houses  which  could  harbor  a 
whole  settlement  of  voters.  It  was  not,  however, 
until  the  adoption  of  universal  suffrage  that  whole- 
sale frauds  became  possible  or  useful;  for  with  a 
limited  suffrage  it  was  necessary  to  sway  only  a 
few  score  votes  to  carry  an  ordinary  election. 

Fernando  Wood  set  a  new  pace  in  this  race 
for  votes.  It  haf  been  estimated  that  in  1854 
there  "were  about  40.000  shiftless,  unprincipled 
persons  who  lived  by  their  wits  and  the  labor 
of  others.  The  trade  of  a  part  of  these  was  turn- 
ing primary  elections,  packing  nominating  con- 
ventions, repeating,  and  breaking  up  meetings." 
Wood  also  systematized  naturalization.  A  card 
bearing  the  following  legend  was  the  open  sesame 
to  American  citizenship: 

"Common  Pleas: 

Please  naturalize  the  bearer. 

N.  Seagrist,  Chairman." 

Seagrist  was  one  of  the  men  charged  by  an  alder- 
manic  committee  "with  robbing  the  funeral  pall  of 


..I  s 


% 


If^! 


<«         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

wSTn.""*"""  ""  ^  ^""^  ""yo'.  over 
round  at  the  places  indicated      Th^  „.♦      i- 

ui  i^ew  rork  in  six  weeks.     Of  lae  28fl 
votes  cast  in   the  dtv    M  nnn  , 

M.C   uijr,   xOfWM)  Were  afterwAivl., 

shown  to  be  fraudulent.    It  was  aho-.tT^- 
that  an  official  whose  duty  tZ  .  *"°" 

oIm<4:»„  •  ^      "^^  *o  swear  in  the 

elertion  inspectors,  not  finding  a  Bible  at  ZTa 
used  a  volume  of  011endorfsivla/«2  of^^^' 
m,  to  Read,  Write,  and  Speak  Fr^n^  "" 
sustains!  thi's  -bstitutiorot  rimldTaT^ 
could  not  possible  have  vitiated  theS^on^ 

Xllt  "^^^  ""-^  ^^  <«-^P«"e  are  stij 


CHAPTEE  VI 


UaSKR  OUOARCHIES 

New  Yokk  Cmr  is  not  unique  in  its  experience 
with  poliUcal  bossdom.    Nearly  every  American 
city,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  for  longer  or 
shorter  periods,  has  been  dominated  by  oligarchies. 
Around  Philadelphia,  American  sentiment  has 
woven  the  liSemories  of  great  events.    It  still 
remains,  of  all  our  large  cities,  the  most  "Ameri- 
can. "    It  has  fewer  aliens  than  any  other,  a  larger 
percentage  of  home  owners,  a  larger  number  of 
small  tradespeople  and  skilled  artisans— the  sort 
of  population  which  democracy  exalts,  and  who 
in  turn  are  presumed  to  be  the  bulwark  of  de- 
mocracy.   These  good  citizens,  busied  with  the 
anxieties  and  excitements  of  their  private  con- 
cerns, discovered,   in  the  decade  following   the 
Civil  War,  that  their  city  had  slipped  unawares 
into  the  control  of  a  compact  oligarchy,  the  no- 
torious Gas  Ring. 

M 


'f^ 


•I 

it 


I 

It  : ' 


rl:  I 


W        THB  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
Aum  of  a  council  .  *~"«''  *'«»  n>e- 

capabl,  individuals  under  .K  ^^*'™»  "'^ 

about  two'sz  ;,lrtrTr'"'"™« 

their  sway  overX,    ♦    f      '^  ^  ^'«J«1 

of  the  police  and  control  ^^t^TT"" 
vote«.  they  «H,n  dominatl^  tt  "^-^tration  of 
«.e  nominating  eonvTnl^  I  -7^::, :!' 
banner  of  the  Repubhoan  party  LT  ^^ 
party  in  Philadelphia  and  Tfi,  I  ""^* 
which  they  mon.  1    m  "  ^***«''  ™der 

thep«.p,Tvrcr"i^'^^°-''- 

the  city's  servants  w^Le  .         "''^  "'"'  *»' 
Ring  money  as  well «  Z  "^^  "^  *^^  «*^ 

-ho  sold  supSr  1  the  r"-  ^-^-p-pie 

did  its  work  Lit  "*^'  «'°t«''^o"  who 

work,  saloon-keepers  and  dive-owners  who 


U!SSER  OLIGABCHIEB  m 

wanted  protection  -  aU  paid.  Hie  dty'i  uebt  in- 
creawd  at  the  rate  of  IS.OOO.OOO  a  year,  without 
vuible  evidence  of  the  application  of  moaey  to  the 
dty'i  growing  need*. 

In  1883  the  dtixena  finally  aroiued  themselves 
and  peUtioned  the  legiJature  for  a  new  diarter 
They  confessed:  "Phaadelphia  is  now  recogniW 
as  the  worst  paved  and  worst  deaned  dty  in  the 
dviliied  world.     The  water  supply  is  so  bad  that 
dunng  many  wedcs  of  the  hist  winter  it  was  not 
only  distasteful  and  unwholesome  for  drinking, 
but  offensive  for  bathing  purposes.     The  effort  t<i 
dean  the  streets  was  abandoned  for  months  and  no 
attempt  was  made  to  that  ep.d  until  some  public- 
spirited  dtizens,  at  their  own  expense,  deaned 
a  number  of  the  prindpal  thoroughfaitss. 
The  physical  condiUon  of  the  sewers"  is  "dan- 
gerous to  the  health  and  most  offensive  to  the 
comfort  of  our  people.     Public  work  has  been 
done  so  badly  that  structures  have  to  be  renewed 
almost  as  soon  as  fiaished.    Others  have  been  in 
part  constructed  at  enormous  expense  and  then 
permitted  to  fall  to  decay  without  completion." 
This  is  a  graphic  and  faithful  description  of  the 
result  which  follows  government  of  the  Ring,  for 
the  Ring,  with  the  people's  money. 


li: 


M- 


•ill 


I  I 


M         THE  BOSS  AND  THB  MACHINE 

The  leguUture  in  1880  granted  PhiWelphi.  . 
new  cWter.  cdM  the  Bullitt  Law.  which  went 
mto  effect  in  1887.  and  which  greaUy  .impMfied 
the  rtructuw  of  the  i  wemment  and  centered  le- 
•ponubUity  in  the  mayor.    It  was  then  necetMiy 
for  the  Ring  to  control  primariei  and  win  dec 
Uon.  in  order  to  keep  the  city  within  iti  dutehes. 
So  began  in  Phihwlelphia  the  practice  of  fraudulent 
registering  and  voting  on  a  scale  that  has  ptob- 
^ly  never  been  equaled  elsewhere  in  America 
Niunes  taken  from  tombstone,  in  the  cemeteries 
and  from  the  register  of  births  found  thdr  way  to 
tie  polling  registers.    Dogs.  caU.  horses,  anything 
livmg  or  dead,  with  a  name,  served  the  purpose 

The  exposure  of  these  frauds  was  underteken  in 
1900  by  the  Municipal  League.    In  two  wards, 
where  the  population  had  decreased  one  per  cent 
lu  ten  years  (1890-1900).  it.  wa^  f-^.  J  that  the 
registered  voters  had  increased  one  hundred  per 
c^nt.     From   one  house  sixty-two  voters   were 
registered,  of  sundry  occupations  as  follows;  "Pro- 
fessors,   bricklayers.  genUemen.  moulders,  cash- 
iers, barbers,  minister     bakers,  doctors,  drivers, 
bartenders,  plumbers,  derks.  cooks,  merdianfa 
stevedores,  bookkeepers,  waiters,  florists,  boiler- 
Bakers,  salesmen,  soldiers,  electridans.  printers. 


lua  a 
went 
lified 
i  re- 
•ary 

ihes. 
loit 
tob- 


nes 
rUt 
ling 


iin 

ent 

the 


lil 


.dqctgoiorf'I 


TOO    il  'Aofl<Xl\> 

dqii-raoJod*! 


HM 


I  :  ■' 


l\ 


LESSER  OLIGARCHIES  97 

book  agents,  and  restaurant  keepers."  One  hun- 
dred  and  twenty-two  voters,  according  to  the 
register.  lived  at  another  house,  including  nine 
agents,  nine  machinists,  nine  gentlemen,  nine 
waiters,  nine  salesmen,  four  barbers,  four  bakers 
fourteen  clerks,  three  laborers,  two  bartenders,  a 
milkman,  an  optician,  a  piano-mover,  a  window- 
cleaner,  a  nurse,  and  so  on. 

On  the  day  before  the  election  the  Municipal 
League  sent  registered  letters  to  all  the  registe^ 
voters  of  certain  precincts.    Sixty-thr«e  per  cent 
were  returned,   marked  by  the  postman,   "not 
at,"  "deceased."  "removed,"  "not  known."    Of 
forty-four  letters  addressed  to  names  registered 
from  one  four-story  house,  eighteen  were  returned. 
Prom  another  house,  supposed  to  be  sheltering 
forty-eight  voters,  forty-one  were  returned;  from 
another,  to  which  sixty-two  were  sent,  sixty-one 
came    back.     The    league   reported    that    "two 
hundred   and  fifty-two  votes  were  returned  in 
a  division  that  had  less  than  one  hundred  legal 
voters    .within  its  boundaries."    Repeating  and 
ballot-box  stuffing  were  common.  Election  officers 
would  place  fifty  or  more  ballots  in  the  box  before 
the  polls  opened  or  would  hand  out  a  handful 
of  ballots  to  the  recognized  repeaters. 


m 

^  1 1 
■  J 

'«■:; 

^n  ^^ 

'■•■' 

'4  - 1 

^'il. 

(ii 


l.r 


W'. 


98         THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHWE 

Tbe  high-water  mark  of  boss  rule  was  reached 
under  Mayor  Ashbridge,"Stars-and-Stripes  Sam." 
who  had  been  elected  in  1890.    The  moderation 
of  Martin,  who  had  succeeded  McManes  as  boss, 
was  cast  aside;  the  mayor  was  himself  a  member 
of  the  Ring.    When  Ashbridge  retired,  the  Mu- 
nicipal League  reported:   "The  four  years  of  the 
Ashbridge  administration  have  passed  into  histoiy 
leaving  behind  them  a  scar  on  the  fame  and 
reputation  of  our  city  which  wiU  be  a  long  time 
healing.      Never  before,  and  let  us  hope  never 
again,  will  there  be  such  brazen  defiance  of  pubhc 
opinion,  such  flagrant  disregard  of  public  interest, 
such  abuse  of  power  and  responsibility  for  pri- 
vate ends." 

Since  that  time  the  fortunes  of  the  Philadelphia 
Bing  have  fluctuated.  Its  hold  upon  the  city, 
however,  is  not  broken,  but  is  still  strong  enough 
to  justify  Owen  Wister's  observation:  "Not  a 
Dickens,  only  a  Zola,  would  have  the  face  (and 
the  stomach)  to  tell  the  whole  truth  about 
Philadelphia." 

St.  Louis  was  one  of  the  first  cities  of  America 
to  possess  the  much-coveted  home  rule.  The 
Missouri  Sute  Constitution  of  1875  granted  the 


R' 

m 

': 

^1 

^^w 

m 

ISSSER  OUGARCraES  99 

dty  the  power  to  frame  its  own  charter,  under 
certain  limitations.    The  new  charter  provided  for 
a  mayor  elected  for  four  years  with  the  power  of 
appointing  certain  heads  of  departments;  others, 
however,  were  to  be  elected  directly  by  the  people. 
It  provided  for  a  Municipal  Assembly  composed 
of  two  houses:  the  Council,  with  thirteen  members, 
elected  at  large  for  four  years,  and  the  House  of 
Delegates,  with  twenty-eight  members,  one  from 
each  ward,  elected  for  two  years.    These  two  houses 
were  given  coordinate  powf-rs;  one  was  presumed 
to  be  a  check  on  the  otlicr.     The  Assembly  fixed 
the  tax  rate,  granted  franchises,  and  passed  upon 
aU  public  improvements.   The  Police  Department 
was,  however,  under  tJie  control  of  the  mayor 
and  four  commissioners,  the  latter  appointed  by 
the  Governor.    The  city  was  usually  Republican 
by  about  8000  majority;  the  State  was  safely 
Democratic.    The  city,  until  a  few  years  ago.  had 
few  tenements  and  a  small  floating  population. 

Outwardly,  all  seemed  well  with  the  city  until 
1901.  when  the  inside  workings  of  its  govern- 
ment were  revealed  to  the  public  gaze  through 
the  vengeance  of  a  disappointed  franchise-seeker. 
The  Suburban  Railway  Company  sought  an  ex- 
tension of  iU  franchises.     It  had  approached  the 


m 


rf 


llfj 


m 


Hr 


I    ^ 


100  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
man  known  as  the  ("ispenser  of  such  favors,  but. 
thinking  his  price  ($145,000)  too  high,  had  sought 
to  deal  directly  with  the  Municipal  Assembly. 
The  price  agreed  upon  for  the  House  of  Delegates 
was  $75,000;  for  the  Council,  $60,000.  These 
sums  were  placed  in  safety  vaults  controlled  by 
a  dual  lock.  The  representative  of  the  Company 
held  one  of  the  keys;  the  representative  of  the 
Assembly,  the  other;  so  that  neither  party  could 

take  the  money  without  the  presence  of  both.    The 
Assembly  duly  granted  the  franchises;  but  prop- 
erty owners  along  the  line  of  the  proposed  ex- 
tension secured  an  injunction,  which  delayed  the 
proceedings  until  the  term  of  the  venal  House  of 
Delegates  had  expired.     The  Assemblymen,  hav- 
ing delivered  the  goods,  demanded  iheir  pay.    The 
Company,  held  up  by  the  courts,  refused.    Mut- 
terings  of  the  disappointed  conspirators  reached 
the  ear  of  an   enterprising  newspaper  reporter. 
Thereby  the  Circuit  Attorney,  Joseph  W.  Folk, 
struck  the  trail  of  the  gang.    Both  the  president 
of  the  railway  company  and  the  "agent"  of  the 
rogues  of  the  Assembly  turned  state's  evidence; 
the  safe-deposit  boxes  were  opened,  disclosing  the' 
packages  containing  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
$1000  bills. 


LESSER  OLIGARCHIES  loi 

This  exposure  led  to  others— the  "Central 
Traction  Conspiracy,"  the  "  Lighting  Deal."  the 
"Garbage  Deal."  In  the  cleaning-up  process, 
thirty-nine  persons  were  indicted,  twenty-four  for 
bribery  and  fifteen  for  perjury. 

The  evidence  which  Folk  presented  in  the  pros- 
ecution  of   these    scoundrels    merely    confirmed 
what  had  long  been  an  unsavory  rumor:  that 
franchises  and  contracts  were  bought  and  sold 
like  merchandise;  that  the  buyers  were  men  of 
eminence  in  the  city's  business  affairs;  and  that 
the  sellers  were  the  people's  representatives  in 
the  Assembly.     The  Grand  Jury  reported:  "Our 
investigation,  covering  more  or  less  fully  a  period 
of  ten  years   shows   that,    with  few  exceptions, 
no  ordinance  has  been  passed  wherein  valuable 
privileges   or  franchises  are  granted  until  those 
interested  have  paid  the  legislators  the  money 
demanded  for  action  in  the  particular  case.  . 
So  long  has  this  practice  existed  that  such  mem- 
bers have  come  to  regard  the  receipt  of  money 
for  action  on  pending  measures  as  a  legitimate 
perquisite  of  a  legislator. " 

These  legislators,  it  appeared  from  the  testi- 
mony, had  formed  a  water-tight  ring  or  "combine" 
LI  1899,  for  the  purpose  of  systematizing  this 


■(■,, 


fi: 


{      i 


lOS        THE  B06S  AND  THE  MACHINE 
traffic.    A  regular  icale  of  prices  was  adopted:  so 
much  for  an  excavation,  so  much  per  foot  for  a 
raOway  switdi,  so  much  for  a  street  pavement,  so 
much  for  a  grain  elevator.    Edward  B.  Butler 
was  the  master  under  whose  commands  for  many 
years  this  trafficking  was  reduced  to  systematic 
perfection.    He  had  come  to  St.  Louis  when  a 
young  man,  had  opened  a  blacksmith  shop,  had 
built  up  a  good  trade  in  horseshoeing,  and  also  a 
pliant  political  following  in  his  ward.    His  attempt 
to  defeat  the  home  rule  charter  in  1876  had  given 
him  wider  prominence,  and  he  soon  became  the 
boss  of  the  Democratic  machine.    His  energy, 
shrewdness,  liberality,  and  capacity  for  friend- 
ship gave  him  sway  over  both  Bepublican  and 
Democratic  votes  in  certain  portions  of  the  city. 
A  prominent  St.  Louis  attorney  says  that  for 
over  twenty  years  "he  named  candidates  on  both 
tickets,  fixed,  collected,  and  disbursed  campaign 
assessments,  determined  the  results  in  elections, 
and  in  fine,  practically  controUed  the  public  affairs 
of  St.  Louis."    He  was  the  agent  usually  sought 
by  franchise-seekers,  and  he  said  that  had  the 
Suburban  Company  dealt  with  him  instead  of  with 
the  members  of  the  Assembly,  they  might  have 
avoided  exposure.    He  was  indicted  four  times  in 


LE8BER  0LIGA.BCHIE8  IM 

the  upheaval,  twice  for  attempting  to  bribe  the 
Board  of  Health  in  the  garbage  deal  —  he  waa 
a  stockholder  in  the  company  seeking  the  con- 
tract  —  and  twice  lot  bribery  in  the  lighting 
contract 


'V 


Cincinnati  iiiherited  from  the  Civil  War  the  do- 
mestic excitements  and  political  antagonisms  of  a 
border  city.  Its  large  Grerman  population  gave  it 
a  conservative  political  demeanor,  slow  to  accept 
changes,  loyal  to  the  Republican  party  as  it  was 
to  the  Union.  This  reduced  partizan  opposition 
to  a  docile  minority,  willing  to  dicker  for  public 
spoils  with  the  intrenched  majority. 

George  B.  Cox  was  for  thirty  years  the  boss  of 
this  city.  Events  had  prepared  the  way  for  him. 
Following  closely  upon  the  war,  Tom  Campbell, 
a  crafty  criminal  lawyer,  was  the  local  leader  of  the 
Republicans,  an<i  John  R.  McLean,  own'sr  of  the 
Cincinnati  Enquirer,  a  very  rich  man,  of  the  Demo- 
crats. These  two  men  were  cronies:  they  bar- 
tered the  votes  of  their  followers.  For  some  years 
crime  ran  its  repulsive  course:  brawlers,  thieves, 
cut-throats  escaped  conviction  through  the  de- 
fensive influence  of  the  lawyer-boss.  In  1880, 
Cox,  who  had  served  an  apprenticeship  in  his 


in 


s   I 


104  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
brother-in-law's  gambling  house,  was  elected  to 
the  dty  council.  Thence  he  was  promoted  to  the 
decennial  board  of  equalization  which  appraised 
all  real  estate  every  ten  years.  There  followed  a 
great  decrease  in  the  valuation  of  some  of  the 
choicest  holdings  in  the  city.  In  1884  there  were 
riots  in  Cincinnati.  After  the  acquittal  of  two 
bidtes  who  had  murdered  a  man  for  a  trifling  sum 
of  money,  exasperated  citizens  burned  the  crimi- 
nal court  house.  The  barter  in  justice  stopped, 
but  the  barter  in  offices  and  in  votes  continued. 
The  Blaine  campaign  then  in  progress  was  in 
great  danger.  Cox,  already  a  master  of  the  politi- 
cu!  rame,  promised  the  Republican  leaders  that 
if  ihey  would  give  him  a  campaign  fund  he  would 
turn  in  a  Republican  majority  from  Cincinnati. 
He  did;  and  for  many  years  thereafter  the  returns 
from  Hamilton  County,  in  which  Cincinnati  is 
situated,  brought  cheer  to  Republican  State  head- 
quarters on  election  night. 

Cox  was  an  imostentatious,  sDent  man,  giving 
one  the  impression  of  sullenness,  and  almost  en- 
tirely lacking  in  those  qualities  of  comradeship 
which  one  usually  seeks  in  the  "Boss"  type. 
Prom  a  barren  little  room  over  the  "Mecca" 
saloon,  with  the  help  of  a  telephone,  he  managed 


!   I 


LESSER  OUGARCHIES  105 

his  machine.  He  never  obtruded  himself  upon 
the  public.  He  always  remained  in  the  back- 
ground. Nor  did  he  ever  take  vast  sums.  Moder- 
ation was  the  rule  of  his  loot. 

By  1905  a  movement  set  in  to  rid  the  city  of 
machine  rule.  Cox  saw  this  movement  growing 
in  strength.  So  he  imported  boatloads  of  floaters 
from  Kentucky.  These  floaters  registered  "from 
dives,  and  doggeries,  from  coal  bins  and  water 
closets;  no  space  was  too  small  to  harbor  a  man. " 
For  once  he  threw  prudence  to  the  winds.  Ex- 
posure followed;  over  2800  illegal  voters  were 
found.  The  newspapers,  so  long  docile,  now  pro- 
vided the  necessary  publicity.  A  little  paper,  the 
Citizen')  BuUetin,  which  had  started  as  a  handbill 
of  reform,  when  all  the  dailies  seemed  closed  to 
the  facts,  now  grew  into  a  sturdy  weekly.  And, 
to  add  the  capstone  to  Cox's  undoing,  William  H. 
Taft,  the  most  distinguished  son  of  Cincinnati, 
then  Secretary  of  War  in  President  Roosevelt's 
cabinet,  in  a  campaign  speech  in  Akron,  Ohio,' 
advised  the  Republicans  to  repudiate  him.  This 
confounded  the  "regulars,"  and  Cox  was  partially 
beaten.  The  reformers  elected  their  candidate 
for  mayor,  but  the  boss  retained  his  hold  on  the 
county  and  the  city  council.    And,  in  spite  of  all 


!'»,'., 


■M 


'■<  il 

% 


L  I 


I':  i 


1       ; 

■1   '      ! 

I  i   ' 

■ 

( 

( 

1 ' 

I 

loe       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

that  wu  doM.  Cox  renuuned  an  influence  in 

politlM  iintfl  his  desth.  May  to,  191fl. 

S«i  FrmndKW  ha*  lud  a  varied  a-''  -TipKMive 
poliUcal  experience.  The  first  legislature  of  Cali- 
foniia  incorporated  the  mining  town  into  the  city 
of  San  FranciKjo.  April  W,1M0.  Its  government 
from  the  outset  was  corrupt  and  ineffici«it.  Law- 
leuness  culminated  in  the  murder  of  the  editor 
of  the  BtdUHn.  J.  King  of  William,  on  May  14, 
1856.  and  a  vigilance  committee  was  oiganized 
to  clean  up  the  city,  and  watch  the  ballot-box 
on  election  day. 

Soon  the  legislature  was  petitioned  to  change 
the  charter.  The  petition  recites:  "Without  a 
change  in  the  city  government  which  shall  diminish 
the  weight  of  taxation,  the  city  will  neither  be  able 
to  dischai^e  the  interest  on  debts  already  con- 
tracted, nor  to  meet  the  dwnands  for  current 
disbursements.  ...  The  present  condition  of 
the  streets  and  public  improvements  of  the  city 
abundantly  attest  the  total  inefficiency  of  the 
present  system." 

The  legislature  passed  the  "Consolidation  Act  " 
and  from  1866  to  1900  county  and  city  were  gov- 
erned as  a  political  unit.    At  first  the  hopes  for 


LESSER  OLIOASCHIES  m 

more  fnigd  government  aeemed  to  be  fulfilled. 
But  all  oicouragiiig  lymptoma  aoon  v-uiiabed. 
Partiian  rule  followed,  encoumged  by  tbe  tink- 
ering  of   the  legitlature,  which  impoeed  on  the 
charter  layer  upon  layer  of  amendments,  dic- 
Uted  by  partiian  craft,  not  by  local  needi.    Tbe 
adminiitrative   departmenU   were  managed   by 
Boards  of  Commissioners,  under  the  dicUtion  of 
"Blind  Boss  Buckley,"  who  governed  U»  king- 
dom  for  many  years  with  the  despotic  benevo- 
lence characteristic  of  his  kind.    The  citizens  saw 
their  money  squandered  and  their  public  improve- 
menu   lagging.      It  took   twenty-five  years  to 
complete  the  City  Hall,  at  a  cost  of  15,500,000. 
An  official  of  the  Citizens'  Non-partizan  party,  in 
1895,  said:  "There  is  no  city  in  the  Union  with 
a  quarter  of  a  million  people,  which  would  not  be 
the  better  for  a  little  judicious  hanging." 

The  repeated  attempU  made  by  citizens  of  San 
Francisco  to  get  a  new  charter  finally  succeeded, 
and  in  1800  the  city  hopefully  entered  a  new  epoch 
under  a  charter  of  its  own  making  which  contained 
several  radical  changes.  Executive  responsibility 
was  centered  in  the  mayor,  fortified  by  a  compre- 
hensive civil  service.  The  foundntiona  were  laid 
for  municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities,  and 


I,. 


n 


108       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

the  initiative  and  referendum  were  adopted  for 
all  public  franchises.  The  legislative  power  was 
vested  in  a  board  of  eighteen  supervisors  elected 
at  large. 

No  other  American  city  so  dramatically  rep- 
resents the  futility  of  basing  political  optimism 
on  a  mere  plan.  It  was  only  a  step  from  the 
mediocrity  enthroned  by  the  first  election  under 
the  new  charter  to  the  gross  inefficiency  and  cor- 
ruption of  a  new  ring,  imder  a  new  boss.  A 
Grand  Jiuy  (called  the  "Andrews  Jury")  made 
a  report  indicating  that  the  administration  was 
trafficking  in  favors  sold  to  gamblers,  prize-fighters, 
criminals,  and  the  whole  gamut  of  the  underworld; 
that  illegal  profits  were  being  reaped  from  illegal 
contracts,  and  that  every  branch  of  the  executive 
department  was  honeycombed  with  corruption. 
The  Grand  Jury  believed  and  said  all  this,  but  it 
lacked  the  legal  proof  upon  which  Mayor  Schmitz 
and  his  accomplices  could  be  indicted.  In  spite 
of  this  report,  Schmitz  was  reelected  in  1905  as 
the  candidate  of  the  Labor-Union  party. 

Now  graft  in  San  Francisco  became  simply 
universal.  George  Kennan,  summarizing  the 
practices  of  the  looters,  says  they  "took  toll 
everywhere  from  everybody  and  in  almost  every 


LESSER  OUGABCHIES  109 

imaginable  way:  they  went  into  partnership  with 
dishonest  contractors;  sold  privileges  and  permits 
to  business  men:  extorted  money  from  restaurants 
and  saloons;  levied  assessments  on  municipal 
employees;  shared  the  profits  of  houses  of  pros- 
titution; forced  beer,  whiskey,  champagne,  and 
cigars  on  restaurants  and  saloons  on  commission; 
blackmailed  gamblers,  pool-sellers,  and  promoters 
of  prize-fights;  sold  franchises  to  wealthy  cor- 
porations; created  such  municipal  bureaus  as  the 
commissary  department  and  the  city  commercial 
company  in  order  to  make  robbery  of  the  city 
more  easy;  leased  rooms  and  buildings  for  muni- 
cipal offices  at  exorbitant  rates,  and  compelled  the 
lessees  to  share  profits;  held  up  milkmen,  kite- 
advertisers,  junk-dealers,  and  even  street-sweepers; 
and  took  bribes  from  everybody  who  wanted  an 
illegal  privilege  and  was  willing  to  pay  for  it. 
The  motto  of  the  administration  seemed  to  be 
'Encourage  dishonesty,  and  then  let  no  dishonest 
dollar  escape.'" 

The  machinery  through  which  this  was  effected 
was  simple:  the  mayor  had  vast  appointing  powers 
and  by  this  means  directly  controlled  all  the  city 
departments.  But  the  mayor  was  only  an  automa- 
ton.   Back  of  him  was  Abe  Ruef.  the  Boss,  an 


m 


i 


^1 


i  i 


\l 


! 


110  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BCACHINE 
unscrupuloui  lawyer  who  had  wormed  his  way 
into  the  labor  party,  and  manipulated  the  "lead- 
ers" like  puppets.  Ruef'a  game  also  was  elemen- 
tary. He  sold  his  omnipotence  for  cash,  either 
under  the  respectable  cloak  of  "retainer"  or 
under  the  more  common  device  of  commissions 
and  dividends,  so  that  thugs  retained  him  for 
their  freedom,  contractors  for  the  favors  they  ex- 
pected, and  public  service  corporations  for  their 
franchises.  , 

Finally,  through  the  persistence  of  a  few  private 
citizens,  a  Grand  Jury  was  summoned.  Under 
the  foremanship  of  B.  P.  Oliver  it  made  a 
thorough  investigation.  Francis  J.  Heney  was 
employed  as  special  prosecutor  and  William  J. 
Bums  as  detective.  Heney  and  Bums  formed  an 
aggressive  team.  The  Ring  proved  as  vulnerable 
as  it  was  rotten.  Over  three  hundred  indictments 
were  returned,  involving  persons  in  every  walk  of 
life.  Ruef  was  sentenced  to  fourteen  years  in 
the  penitentiary.  Schmitz  was  freed  on  a  techni- 
cality, after  being  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
five  years.  Most  of  the  other  indictments  were 
not  tried,  the  prosecutor's  attention  having  been 
diverted  to  the  trail  of  the  franchise-seekers,  who 
have  thus  far  eluded  conviction. 


11^  I; 


'•i 


LESSEE  OLIGAHCHIES  m 

Minneapoli..  a  city  blending  New  EngJand  tra- 
ditions with  Scandinavian  thrift,  illustrates,  in 
its  «periences  with  "Doc"  Ames,  the  maneuvers 
of  the  peripatetic  boss.  Ames  was  four  times 
mayor  of  the  city,  but  never  his  own  successor. 
Each  succeeding  experience  with  him  grew  more 
Imid  of  indecency,  until  his  third  term  was  oystal- 
lized  m  Minneapolis  tradition  as  "the  notorious 
Ames  administration."  Domestic  scandal  made 
him  a  social  outcast,  political  corruption  a  by- 
word, and  Ames  disappeared  from  public  view  for 
ten  years. 

In  1800  a  new  primary  law  provided  the  oppor- 
tunity to  return  him  to  power  for  the  fourth  time. 
Ames,  who  had  been  a  Democrat,  now  found  it 
convenient  to  become  a  Republican.  The  new  law. 
like  most  of  the  early  primaiy  laws,  permitted 
members  of  one  party  to  vote  in  the  primaries  of 
the  other  party.  So  Ames's  following,  estimated 
at  about  fifteen  hundred,  voted  in  the  Republican 
primaries,  and  he  became  a  regular  candidate  of 
that  party  in  a  presidential  year,  when  citizens 
felt  the  special  urge  to  vote  for  the  party. 

Ames  was  the  type  of  boss  with  whom  discipline 
13  secondary  to  personal  aggrandizement.  He  had 
a  passion  for  popularity;  was  imp  ^ j»g  of  pres- 


m 


I 


If 


I 


ij 


m 


I,  I 


! 


IIS       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINE 

ence;  possessed  considerable  professional  aldll; 
and  played  constantly  for  the  support  of  the  poor. 
The  attacks  upon  him  he  turned  into  political 
capital  by  saying  that  he  was  made  a  victim  by 
the  rich  because  he  championed  the  poor.  Sus- 
ceptible to  flattery  and  fond  of  display,  he  lacked 
the  power  to  command.  He  had  followers,  not 
henchmen.  His  following  was  composed  of  the 
lowly,  who  were  duped  by  his  phrases,  and  of 
criminals,  who  knew  his  bent;  and  they  followed 
him  into  any  party  whither  he  found  it  convenient 
to  go.  Republican,  Democratic,  or  Populist. 

The  charter  of  Minneapolis  gave  the  mayor 
considerable  appointing  power.  He  was  virtually 
the  dictator  of  the  Police  Department.  This  was 
the  great  opportunity  of  Ames  and  his  floating 
vote.  His  own  brother,  a  weak  individual  with  a 
dubious  record,  was  made  Chief  of  Police.  Within 
a  few  weeks  about  one-half  of  the  police  force  was 
discharged,  and  the  places  filled  w<*h  men  who 
could  be  trusted  by  the  gang.  Ti  number  of 
detectives  was  increased  and  an  es-gamoler  placed 
at  their  head.  A  medical  student  from  Ames's 
office  was  commissioned  a  special  policeman  to 
gather  loot  from  the  women  of  the  street. 

Through  a  telepathy  of  their  own,  the  criminal 


LESSER  OUGABCHIES  ns 

dasMS  all  over  the  country  soon  learned  of  the 
favorable  conditions  in  Minneapolis,  under  which 
every  form  of  gambling  and  low  vice  flourished; 
and  burglars,  pickpockets,  safe-blowers,  and  har- 
lots made  their  way  thither.  Mr.  W.  A.  Frisbie,  the 
editor  of  a  leading  Minneapolis  paper,  described 
the  situation  in  the  following  words:  "It  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  in  this  period  fully  99% 
of  the  police  department's  efficiency  was  devoted 
to  the  devising  and  enforcing  of  blackmail.    Ordi- 
nary patrolmen  on  beats  feared  to  arrest  knowti 
criminals  for  fear  the  prisoners  would  prove  to  be 
'protected.'  .  .  .  The  horde  of  detective  favorites 
hung  lazily  about  police  headquarters,  waiting  for 
some   citizen    to    make   complaint   of   property 
stolen,  only  that  they  might  enforce  additional 
blackmail  against  the  thief,  or  possibly  secure 
the  b'oty  for  themselve  .     One  detective  is  now 
f  1803]  serving  lime  in  the  sUte  prison  for  retaining 
a  stolen  diacond  pin. " 

The  mayor  thought  he  had  a  machine  for  grind- 
ing blackmail  from  every  criminal  operation  in  his 
city,  but  he  had  only  a  gang,  without  discipline 
or  coerdinating  power,  and  weakened  by  jealousy 
and  suspicion.  The  wonder  is  that  it  lasted  fifteen 
months.      Then  came  the  "April  Grand  Jury," 


■t':  : 

■ 

•  'ri 

;/<;' 

I 

r't 

iiii 

■ 

"^•i 

i 

IM       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINE 
under  the  foremanalup  of  a  courageoiu  and  re- 
souroeful  busineM  man.    The  i^pme  of  criminab 
crumbled;  forty-nine  mdictmenta,mvo]ving  twelve 
persons,  were  returned. 

The  Grand  Jury,  however,  at  first  stood  alone 
in  its  investigations.  The  crowd  of  politicians 
and  vultures  were  against  it,  and  no  appropriations 
were  granted  for  getting  evidence.  So  iU  mem- 
bers paid  expenses  out  of  their  own  pockets,  and 
its  foreman  himself  interviewed  prisoners  and  dis- 
covered the  trail  ihat  led  to  the  King's  undoing. 
Ames's  brother  was  convicted  on  second  trial  and 
sentenced  to  six  ana  a  half  years  in  the  peni- 
tentiary,  while  two  of  his  accomplices  received 
shorter  terms.  Mayor  Ames,  under  indictment 
and  heavy  bonds,  fled  to  Indiana. 

The  President  of  the  City  Council,  a  business  man 
of  education,  tact,  and  sincerity,  became  mayor, 
for  an  interim  of  four  months;  enough  time,  as  it 
proved,  for  him  to  return  the  dty  to  its  normal 
political  life. 

These  examples  are  su£Scient  to  illustrate  the 
oiganization  and  working  of  the  municipal  ma- 
chine. It  must  not  be  imagined  by  the  reader 
that  these  cities  alone,  and  a  few  others  made 


LESSER  OUGARCHIES  lu 

notorious  by  the  magazine  muck-raken,  are  the 
only  American  cities  that  have  developed  oli- 
garchies. In  truth,  not  a  single  American  city,  great 
OP  small,  has  entirely  escaped,  for  a  greater  or 
lesser  period,  the  sway  of  a  coterie  of  politicians. 
It  has  not  always  been  a  corrupt  sway;  but  it  has 
parely,  if  ever,  given  eflScient  administration. 

Happily  there  are  not  wanting  signs  that  the 
general  conditions  which  have  fostered  the  Ring 
are  disappearing.    The  period  of  reform  set  in 
about  1890.  when  people  began  to  be  interested 
in  the  study  of  municipal  government.    It  was 
not  long  afterwards  that  the  first  authoritative 
books  on  the  subject  appeared.    Then  collies 
began  to  give  coiirses  in  municipal  government; 
editors  begcn  to  realize  the  public's  concern  in 
local  questions  and  to  discuss  neighborhood  poli- 
tics as  well  as  national  politics.    By  1900  a  new 
era  broke— the  era  of  the  Grand  Jury.    Nothing 
so  hopeful  in  local  politics  had  occurred  in  our 
history  as  the  disclosures  which  followed.    They 
provoked  the  residuum  of  conscience  in  the  citi- 
zenry and  the  determination  that  honesty  should 
rule  in  public  business  and  politics   as   well  as 
in  private  transactions.     The  Grand  Jury  inqui- 
sitions, however,  demonstrated  clearly  that  the 


ii 


m 

iri 


I 


I  si 


n«  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINB 
criminal  law  was  no  remedy  for  mwiicipal  mit- 
rule.  The  great  majority  of  floaten  and  illegal 
votew  who  were  indicted  never  faced  a  trial  jury. 
The  results  of  the  prosecutions  for  bribeiy  and 
grosser  political  crimes  were  scarcely  more  encour- 
aging. It  is  true  that  one  Abe  Ruef  in  a  California 
penitentiary  is  worth  untold  sermons,  editorials, 
and  platform  admonitions,  and  serves  as  a  potent 
warning  to  all  public  malefactors.  Yet  the  ex- 
ample is  soon  forgotten;  and  the  people  return 
to  their  former  political  habits. 

But  out  of  this  decade  of  gang-hunting  and  its 
impressive  experiences  with  the  shortcomings  of 
our  criminal  laws  came  the  new  municipal  era 
which  we  have  now  fully  entered, the  era  of  enlight- 
ened administration.     This  new  era  calls  for  a 
reconstruction  of  the  city  government.    Its  princi- 
pal feature  is  the  rapid  spread  of  the  Galveston  or 
Commission  form  of  government  and  of  its  modi- 
fication, the  City  Manager  plan,  the  aim  of  which 
is  to  centralize  governmental  authority  and  to 
entice  able  men  into  municipal  office.    And  there 
are  many  other  manifestations  of  the  new  civic 
spirit.     The  mesmeric  influence  of  national  party 
names  in  civic  politics  is  waning;  the  rise  of  home 
rule  for  the  city  is  severing  the  unholy  alliance 


\,ii  •      tiii' 


LESSER  OUGABCHIES  m 

between  the  legislature  and  the  local  Ring;  the 
power  to  grant  franchi«es  is  being  taken  away 
from  Iqpslative  bodies  and  placed  directly  with 
the  people;  nominations  are  passing  out  of  the 
hands  of  cUques  and  are  being  made  the  gift 
of  the  voters  through  petitions  and  primaries; 
efficient  reforms  in  the  taxing  and  budgetary 
machinery  have  been  instituted,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  merit  system  in  the  civil  service  is 
creating  a  class  of  municipal  experts  beyond  the 
reach  of  political  gangsters. 

There  have  sprung  up  all  sorts  of  collateral 
organizations  to  help  the  officials:  societies  for 
municipal  research,  municipal  reference  libraries, 
citizens'  unions,  municipal  leagues,  and  mum'cipal 
parties.    These    are    further    supplemented    by 
oiganizations  which  indirecUy  add  to  the  momen- 
tum of  practical,  enlightened  municipal  sentiment: 
boards  of  commerce,  associations  of  business  and 
professional  men  of  every  variety,  women's  clubs, 
men's  clubs,  children's  clubs,  twreation  clubs, 
social  clubs,  every  one  with  its  own  peculiar  vigi- 
lance upon  some  comer  of  the  city's  affairs.    So 
every  important  city  is  guarded  by  a  network  of 
voluntary  organizations. 
All  these  changes  in  city  government,  in  munici- 


>u 


:^-'t 


.1?-: 


M 

m 


w 


US       THE  B06S  AND  THE  MACHINE 

pal  lam  and  political  mwhuiiniu,  and  in  the 
people's  attitude  toward  their  citie»,  have  tended 
to  dignify  municipal  lervice.*    The  city  job  hai 
been  lifted  to  a  higher  plane.    Lord  Rowbery. 
the  brilliant  chairman  of  the  first  London  County 
Council,  the  governing  body  of  thv  world's  largest 
city,  said  many  years  ago:  "I  wish  that  my  voice 
could  extend  to  every  municipality  in  the  king- 
dom, and  impress  upon  every  man,  however  high 
his  position,  however  great  his  wealth,  however 
consummate  his  talenU  may  be,  the  importance 
and  nobility  of  municipal  work."    It  is  sudi  a 
spirit  as  this  tl^t  has  made  the  government  of 
Glasgow  a  model  of  democratic  efficiency;  and  it 
is  the  beginnings  of  this  spirit  that  the  mum'dpal 
historian  finds  developing  in  the  last  twenty  years 
of  American  life.    It  is  mdeed  difficult  to  see  how 
our  ciUes  can  slip  back  again  into  the  clutches  of 
bosses  and  rings  and  repeat  the  shameful  history 
of  the  last  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


CHAPTER  Vn 


itai  American  people,  when  they  wrote  their 
fint  «Ute  constitution.,  were  fiUed  with  a  profound 
dirtnut  of  executive  authority,  the  offspring  of 
thenr  experience  with  the  arbitrary  King  George. 
So  they  saw  to  it  that  the  executive  authority  in 
their  own  government  was  reduced  to  its  lowest 
terms,  and  that  the  legislative  autiiority.  which 
was  presumed  to  represent  tiie  people,  was  exalted 
to  I<«al  omnipotence.    In  tiie  original  States,  tiie 
legislature  appointed  many  of  the  judicial  and  ad- 
mmistrative  officers;  it  was  above  tiie  exe-   Jve 
veto;  it  had  political  supremacy;  it  determined 
tte  form  of  local  governments  and  divided  tiie 
State  mto  election  precincts;    it  appointed  tiie 
delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress,  towards 
which  It  displayed  tiie  attitude  of  a  sovereign.    It 
was  altogetiier  the  most  important  arm  of  the 
stiite  government;  in  fact  it  virtually  teas  the 
state  government. 

119 


i 


m 


•it:  I 


i   II. 


ItO       THB  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINB 

The  Federal  CoMtitutkm  created  •  govemment 
of  qMdfied  powers,  reMrving  to  the  SUtea  all  au- 
thority not  expreuly  given  to  the  central  govem- 
ment. CongrcM  can  legUate  only  on  tubjecte 
permitted  by  the  ConatituUon;  on  the  other  hand, 
a  lUte  legislature  can  legidate  on  any  subject 
not  expressly  forbidden.  The  state  legislature  pos- 
sesses authority  over  a  far  wider  range  of  subjecU 
than  Congress— subjects,  moreover,  which  press 
much  nearer  to  the  daily  activities  of  the  citizens, 
such  as  the  wide  reahn  of  private  law.  personal 
relations,  local  govemment,  and  property. 

In  the  earlier  days,  men  of  first-class  ability, 
such  as  Alezand^  Hamilton,  Samuel  Adams,  and 
James  Madison,  did  not  disdain  membership  in 
the  sUte  legislatures.  But  the  development  of 
party  spirit  and  machine  politics  brought  with  it 
a  great  change.  Then  came  the  legislative  caucus; 
and  party  politics  soon  reigned  in  every  capital. 
As  the  legislature  was  ruled  by  the  majority,  the 
dominant  party  elected  presiding  officers,  des^- 
nated  committees,  appointed  subordinates,  and 
controlled  lawmaking.  The  party  was  therefore 
in  a  position  to  pay  its  political  debts  and  bestow 
upon  its  supporters  valuable  favors.  Further,  as 
the  legislature  apportioned  the  various  electoral 


M0I8LATIVB  OMNIFOTBNCB         l« 
«lirtrict*aie  dominwit  pwty  could,  by  meuu  of 
the  genynunder.  entrench  itaelf  even  in  unfriendly 
kwalitiet.    And.  to  crown  iu  politicml  power,  it 
elected   United   States  Senator..    But,   a.  the 
power  of  the  party  increawd,  unfortunately  the 
perwnnd  of  the  legislature  deteriorated.    Able 
men,  as  a  rule,  shunned  a  service  that  not  only 
took  them  from  their  private  affairs  for  a  number 
of  months,  but  also  involved  them  in  partisan  ri- 
vabies  and  trickeries.   Gradually  the  people  came 
to  lose  confidence  in  the  legislative  body  and  to  put 
their  trust  more  in  the  Executive  or  else  reserved 
governmental  powers  to  themselves.   It  was  about 
18M  that  the  decline  of  the  legislature's  powers 
set  in,  when  new  sUte  constitutions  began  to 
clip  its  prerogatives,  one  after  another. 

The  bulky  constitutions  now  adopted  by  most 
of  the  SUtes  are  eloquent  testimony  to  the  com- 
plete coUapse  of  the  legislature  as  an  adminis- 
trative VKly  and  to  the  people's  general  distrust 
of  their  chosen  represenUtives.  The  initiative,  ref- 
erendum, recall,  and  the  withholding  of  important 
subjects  from  the  legislature's  power,  are  among 
the  devices  intended  to  free  the  people  from  the 
machinations  of  their  wilful  representatives. 
Now,  most  of  the  evils  which  these  heroic  jieas- 


M 


i" 


';  i^ 


■  M 


4 


Hi 


IW       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  IklACHiNE 

UHM  have  sought  to  remedy  can  be  traced  directly 
to  the  partizan  ownership  of  the  state  legislature. 
The  boss  controlling  the  members  of  the  legis- 
lature could  not  only  dole  out  his  favors  to  the 
privilege  seekers;  he  could  assuage  the  greed  of 
the  municipal  ring;  and  could,  to  a  lesser  degree, 
command  federal  patronage  by  an  entente  cordiale 
with  congressmen  and  senators;  and  through  his 
power  in  presidential  conventions  and  elections 
he  had  a  direct  connection  with  the  presidential 
office  itself. 

It  was  in  the  days  before  the  legislature  was 
prohibited  from  granting,  by  special  act,  franchises 
and  charters.  wW  banks,  turnpike  companies, 
railroads,  and  all  sorts  of  corporations  came  asking 
for  charters,  that  the  figure  of  the  lobbyist  first 
appeared.  He  acted  as  a  middleman  between 
the  seeker  and  the  giver.  The  preeminent  figure 
of  this  type  in  state  and  legislative  politics  for 
several  decades  preceding  the  Civil  War  was 
Thurlow  Weed  of  New  York.  As  an  influencer 
of  legislatures,  he  stands  easily  first  in  ability  and 
achievement.  His  great  personal  attractions  won 
him  willing  foUowers  whom  he  knew  how  to  use. 
He  was  party  manager,  as  well  as  lobbyist  and  boss 
in  a  real  sense  long  before  that  term  was  coined. 


LEGISLATIVE  OMNXFOTENCE         Ijtt 
Hia  capacity  for  politics  amounted   to  genius. 
He   never  sought  oflBce;    and  his  memory  has 
been  left  singularly  free  from  taint.    He  became 
the  editor  of  the  Albany  Journal  and  made  it 
the  leading  Whig  "up-state"  paper.    His  friend 
Seward,  whom  he  had  lifted  into  the  Governor's 
chair,  passed  on  to  the  United  States  Senate;  and 
when  Horace  Greeley  with  the  New  York  TrO- 
tme  joined  their  forces,  this  potent  triumvirate 
ruled  the  Empire  State.     Greeley  was  its  spokes- 
man. Seward  its  leader,  but  Weed  was  its  designer. 
Prom  his  room  No.  11  in  the  old  Astor  House, 
he  beckoned         forces  that  made  or  unmade 
presidente.  governors,  ambassadors,  congressmen, 
judges,  and  l^slators. 

With  the  tremendous  increase  of  business  after 
the  Civil  War,  New  York  City  became  the  central 
office  of  the  nation's  business,  and  many  of  the 
interests  centered  there  found  it  wise  to  have  per- 
manent representatives  at  Alt  my  to  scrutinize 
every  bill  that  even  remotely  touched  their  wel- 
fare, to  promote  legislation  that  was  frankly  in 
their  favor,  and  to  prevent  "stiikes"— the  bills 
des^rned  for  blackmail.  After  a  time,  however, 
the  number  of  "strikes"  decreased,  as  weU  as  the 
number  of  lobbyista  attending  the  session.    The 


'ii 


'■lib 


'S  I  'I 


m 


I 


IS4       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

corporateinterestohadleamedeffidenqr.    Instead 
of  dealing  with  legislators  individually,  they  ar- 
ranged with  the  boss  the  price  of  peace  or  of 
desirable  legislation.    The  boss  transmitted  his 
wishes  to  his  puppets.    This  form  of  government 
depends  upon  a  machine  that  controls  the  legis- 
lature.    In  New  York  both  parties  were  moved 
by  machines.    "Tom"  Piatt  was  the  "easy  boss" 
of    the   Republicans;    and    Tammauy    and    its 
"up-state"  affiliations  controDed  the  Democrats 
"Rwht  here."  says  Piatt  in  his  AutMography 
(1910).  "it  may  be  appropriate  to  say  that  I  have 
had  more  or  less  to  do  with  the  organization  of 
the  New  York  l^ature  since  1878."    He  had. 
For  forty  years  he  practically  named  the  Speaker 
and  committees  when  his  party  won.  and  he 
named  the  price  when  his  party  lost.    AU  that 
an  "interest"  had  to  do.  under  the  new  plan,  was 
to  "see  the  boss,"  and  the  powers  of  government 
were  delivered  into  its  lap. 

Some  of  this  l^slativebaigaining  was  revealed 
m  the  insurance  investigation  of  1905,  conducted 
by  the  Armstrong  Committee  witii  Charles  E. 
Hughes  as  counsel.  Officers  of  the  New  York  Life 
Insurance  Company  testified  that  their  company 
had  given  «ao.OOO  to  the  Republican  campaign  of 


!     ! 


IJSGJSLATIVE  OMNIPOTENCE         ig* 

Home  office  ««.ex  «com.t."  waa  tn«»d  to  the 
hand,  of  a  notorious  lobbyirt  at  Albany.    Three 

ewhtotheRepubhcancampaignfund.  Bo«PIatt 
Wdf  w«  compelled  .luetantly  to  relate  howt 
J«d  for  fifteen  year,  ,^Ved  ten  one  thou«„d 
dollar  bundl,^  of  gree„b«=I«  f„.„  the  Eq„Se 

John  A^  McC^.  p^^^,  „,  ^^^  ^^^  y^^^ 

Uor^heDemo^ticsideofit.  It  doe»'t  count  at 
all  with  me.  What  i.  best  for  the  New  York  Lif, 
moves  and  actuates  me. " 

In  another  investigation  Mr.  H.  0.  Havemeyer 

I!!!-         '  ""  ""^  ^^'^  P"'t«=«<,„  a«d  fire 
^tection;  we  need  eve.,^Ju^  that  the  dty  f „r 
n«hes  and  gives,  and  we  have  to  support  th^ 

^  Eve^individualandcon^ratior^dt^ 
trust  or  whatever  you  call  it-does  these  things 

«d  we  do  them."    No  distinction  is  made.  thT 

betwe«.thegover„^^t  that  ought  tofun^  tS 
protection"  and  tiie  machine  that  seUs  iti 
No  ep«ode  in  recent  political  history   shows 

better  the  relations  of  U.e  legislature  to  the  pi 


I  ''■SI 


w 


fi 


fit 


I«6  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
litical  machine  and  the  great  power  of  invisible 
government  than  the  impeachment  and  removal 
of  Governor  William  Sulzer  in  1913.  Sulzer  had 
been  four  times  elected  to  the  legislature.  He 
served  as  Speaker  in  1893.  He  was  sent  to  Coh- 
gress  by  an  East  Side  district  in  New  York  City 
in  1890  and  served  continuously  imtil  his  nom- 
ination for  Governor  of  New  York  in  1912.  All 
these  years  he  was  known  as  a  Tammany  man. 
During  his  campaign  for  Governor  he  made 
many  promises  for  reform,  and  after  his  election 
he  issued  a  bombastic  declaration  of  independ- 
ence. Hb  words  were  discounted  in  the  light 
of  his  previous  >  record.  Immediately  after  his 
inauguration,  however,  he  began  a  house-clean- 
ing. ■  He  set  to  work  an  economy  and  efficiency 
commission:  he  removed  a  Tammany  superin- 
tendent of  prisons;  made  unusually  good  ap- 
pointments without  paying  any  attention  to  the 
machine;  and  urged  upon  the  legislature  vigorous 
and  vital  Lws. 

But  the  Tammany  party  had  a  large  working 
majority  in  both  houses,  and  the  changed  Sulzer 
was  given  no  support.  The  crucial  moment  came 
when  an  emasculated  primary  law  was  handed  to 
him  for  his  signature.    An  effective  primary  law 


LEGISLATIVE  OMNIPOTENCE         ,« 
T  *^  '  '«««°g  campaign  i«,ue  .11  fi. 

F«uure.  lue  liovenior  vetoed  it  n,-  i  •  i 
t-  «lio«n.ed  on  the  3rd  7^^  St  ^ 
»or  p^mptly  «eonve„ed  it  b  exu!  °^'^- 
(J-e  ^^h)forthepunH«eof  palg^^^rr 
Pn-na.y  law.  Th^at.  that  t^^r^'^' 
a«amst  hin,  by  the  machine  nowtoolc  fol  a  " 
-.tigatin,  eonunittee.  appointed^J  SrSen^^ 

d^ance  happened  upon  "pay  dirt."  J^l  J^ 
the  morning  of  the  i««»l.  „«  a      *     ""*  **"y  <»» 

-«Ht  se^ion.  the  wt^^Ta^mtr  ""  T 
bv  it.  T»_  _        '  P»»ea  a  motion  made 

^^.U  Jammany  W  ,e«,er  to  impe^O.  t 

Tie  articles  of  impeachment  chained:  W  that 
the  Governor  had  filed  a  fake  repTof  Us^^ 
""'f  «P«»«»;  ^nd.  that  dThe  hi\r' 
»uch  .Utement  under  oath  he  wm  1  JU  J^  ' 
jury;  third,  that  he  had  hrStZ  T  ^  ^  "^  P**" 
h„M  .    ..  ""'  """^  Witnesses  to  vrith 

™*"  "°™  responding  to  the 


>u 


It 


If 


r 


188       THE  BOBS  AND  THE  MACHINB 

committee's  subpoena;  sixth,  that  he  had  used 
campaign  contributions  for  private  speculation  in 
the  stock  market;  seventh,  that  he  had  used  his 
power  as  Governor  to  influence  the  political  action 
of  certain  officials;  lastly,  that  he  had  used  this 
power  for  affecting  the  stock  market  to  his  gain. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Governor,  the  first,  sec- 
ond, and  sixth  charges  had  a  background  of  facts, 
although  the  rest  were  ridiculous  and  trivial.  By 
a  vote  of  43  to  IS  he  was  removed  from  the 
governorship.  The  proceeding  was  not  merely  an 
impeachment  of  New  York's  Governor.  It  was 
an  impeachment  of  its  government.  Every  citi- 
zen knew  that  if  Sulzer  had  obeyed  Murphy,  his 
shortcomings  would  never  have  been  his  undoing. 

The  great  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  was 
for  sixty  years  under  the  domination  of  the  House 
of  Cameron  and  the  House  of  Quay.  Simon 
Cameron's  entry  into  public  notoriety  was  sym- 
bolic of  his  whole  ctireeT.  In  1838,  he  was  one 
of  a  commission  of  two  to  disburse  to  the  Winne- 
bago Indians  at  Prairie  du  Chien  $100,000  in  gold. 
But,  instead  of  receiving  gold,  the  poor  Indians 
received  only  a  few  thousand  dollars  in  the  notes 
of  a  bank  of  which  Cameron  was  the  cashier. 


;5 

;(,* 

K  ' 

t 

« 

Iv. 

«i 

.< 

' 

*•** 

1 

,•  .'r 

■.k 


ul 


f 

•i 


It  I 


It' 


l! 


Ml'  ' 


Pi 


US       THE  BO^  AA'D  THE  MACHINB 
comniittee'a  subpoena i  sixtli    that   )>*•  had  use<J 
tumpaign  contributions  fo)  ilion  in 

I'll-  stix'k  market;  st-venth  s<-d  his 

(joncr  lis  Covfjrnor  to  iuflti  uc-tioii 

of  ct-rtaln  officials;  lustiy    liiai  v,l  thi^ 

power  for  aJFtt'tin),'  the  slwjc  ni.-,  i.u  gaiu. 

Unfortunately  for  the  d  he  first,  sec 

oud,  ;uid  iixth  charges  had  a  bafrkground  of  facts, 
allhouKli  the  rest  were  ridiculoiis  and  trivial.    By 
s  vote  of  43  to   13  he  was  rcniovwJ  from  fl; 
governorship.  j.JIi<UiD^£^^  ""*  not  merely  « ■ 

ini[>-'achraent  of  New  York  s  Governor.    It  w 

.tT8I  JII  iuMA  jdiM'll  t<M»A  d  JmK  Hondl  ^CfUniiuO    . 

an  .TiipcS^ljtflent  of  its  governnieni.    TTver;,-  criti 

ztn  k!i.  •-   fi.il  *f  Sulzer  had  obej'ed  I'llurphy,  L. 
shorli  ,ihl  never  have  been  his  undoiiif;. 

The  great  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  wix.i 
for  sixty  years  under  the  domination  of  the  Hous' 
of  Cameron  and  the  House  of  Quay.  Siiaon 
Cameron's  entry  into  public  notoriety  was  sym- 
boh'c  of  his  whoh-  ciireer.  Ill  1838,  he  was  oin 
of  a  commission  of  two  to  disburse  to  the  Winne 
bago  Indians  at  Pr.-'-ie  du  Chien  8100,000  in  gold 
Bui,  instead  of  receiving  gold,  the  pcwr  Indian^ 
riMvivwl  only  .<i  ft'V.'  thousand  loiiars  in  the  note 
hunk  of  which  GftOieron   was  the  cashier 


'•i-: 


\*-.'-il  '  'H 


I^GBUTIVB  OMNIPOTENCB         m 
JT^-      He  built  •  kige  fortme  by  canal 
™"  lumace*.    He  waa  one  irf  th*  n..*  _ 
the  avuh  uae  o/  cad.,  and  to  uae  poUtZZZ 

iZZ^  ^^'^  '"''^  «»•»«  Senate  La 
»epubl,«m  by  a  leguUt„«  in  which  the  Dem«! 

-tahadanujiority.    IT^e  Democrat,  vo^o" 

lum.  and  so  bitter  wm  »i.>  t   ••  ««'ur 

wiier  waa  tbe  feeling  aoainat  tliA 

In  1860  he  waa  a  candidate  for  the  Kepubhcan 
^d^tia^  nomination.  Preddent  LinSnTS: 
lum  S««taor  of  War.  But  hi.  nwnage.„ent 
wa.  «.  iil.«.vored  that  a  committeeTSL 

Wd  the  President  that  it  wa.  impo«ible  to  traZ 
«ctbu.u.««w,th.„chaman.  Theae  complaints 
rr  "r  "''"  «>-''-tion.  moved  £ot 
f^2^:""(^T""-  ^'"''"--^'"-teristic 
a  curt      .  "^  "•  '^-  ^  *"t  Cam«on 

•  curt  note  «ymg  that  he  propo«Ki  to  appoint 
^»uu.ter  to  Russia.    And  thither  into'S 
Cameronwent.    A  few  month.  Uter.  the  Hou*  of 


^.c 


r-i 


.li' 


1 


ISO  THE  B08B  AND  TU£  BCACHINE 
RepreMmtsUvM  pawed  •  Ktolution  of  eeniUK,  dt- 
ing  Cameron'i  employment  of  irreaponiible  penmu 
and  his  purchase  of  supplies  by  private  contract 
instead  of  competitive  bidding.  The  resolution, 
however,  was  later  expunged  from  the  records; 
and  Cameron,  on  his  return  from  Russia,  again 
entered  the  Senate  under  circumstances  so  sus- 
picious that  only  the  political  influence  of  the 
boss  thwarted  an  action  for  bribery.  In  1877  he 
resigned,  naming  as  his  successor  his  son  "Don," 
who  was  promptly  elected. 

In  the  meantime  another  personage  had  ap- 
peared on  the  scene.  "Cameron  made  the  use 
of  money  an  e^ential  to  success  in  politics,  but 
Quay  made  politics  expensive  beyond  the  most 
extravagant  dreams. "  From  the  time  he  arrived 
of  age  until  his  death,  with  the  exception  of  three 
or  four  years,  Matthew  S.  Quay  held  public  office. 
When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  he  had  been  for 
some  time  prothonotary  of  Beaver  County,  and 
during  the  war  he  served  as  Governor  Curtin's 
private  secretary'.  In  1865  he  was  elected  to  the 
legislature.  In  1877  he  induced  the  legislature 
to  resurrect  the  discarded  office  of  Recorder  of 
Philadelphia,  and  for  two  years  he  collected  the 
annual  fees  of  $40,000.    In  1887  he  was  elected 


tEGHUTlVE  OMNIPOTENCE         isi 

to  the  United  8ut«  Senate,  fa  which  he  remained 
except  tot  •  brief  faterval  until  hi*  death. 

I»»8»»c«newveUtioniofQuay'.,ub.tanUal 
inte«.ta  n.  rt»te  n.<«ey..    The  .uidde  of  the 

■      «;^  of  the  People'.  B«Uc  of  Philadelphia, 
which  wa.  largely  owned  by  r  .'itician.  and  waa 
•  f«vonte  depMitoiy  of  ,t>.       ufld..  '  d  to  an 
mveatigation  of  the  bank'<^   .T  ,,  .  „„,  ,.     ■  „^ 
the  fact  that  Quay  and.   ,.  c'h  :,«,,^,V       ^ 
uiwd  rtate  funds  for  ap,^o.,i»  ,  ,n     Qu,,  \  •  ,  ^ 
telegram  to  the  cashier  v..  fou, .'  .u.o.,\  u,e  ind 
officuds  paper,.  "Ifj„„,,„,„^    -d  carry  a 
thouaand  Met.  for  me  I  wiil  .shak.-  'be  p,  , ,  irw  " 
Quay  was  indicted,  but  eso.pH  .rial  h.  plead- 
ing the  statute  of  limitations  as  preventing  the 
.ntroducUon  of  necessary  evidence  against  him. 
A  great  crowd  of  shouUng  henchmen  accosted 
hm.  as  a  hero  when  he  left  the  court-room,  and 
escorted  h.m  to  hi,  hotel.     And  the  legislalnrx 
soon  thereafter  elected  him  to  his  third  tenn  I 
the  Senate. 

Pittsbutg.  as  well  as  Philadelphia,  had  its  ma- 
chine which  was  carefully  geared  to  Quay's  state 
machine.  The  connection  was  made  clear  by  the 
testimony  of  William  Flinn.  a  contractor  boss, 
before  a  committee  of  the  United  States  Senate 


tr 


m 


§ 


I 


ISS  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINE 
Flinn  explained  the  reason  for  a  written  agree- 
ment between  Quay  on  the  one  hand  and  Flinn 
and  one  Brown  in  behalf  of  Chria  Magee,  the 
Big  Bom,  on  the  other,  for  the  division  of  the 
sovereignty  of  western  Pennsylvania.  "Senator 
Quay  told  me,"  said  Flinn,  "that  he  wouW  not 
permit  us  to  elect  the  Bepublican  candidate  for 
mayor  in  Pittsburg  unless  we  adjust  the  politics 
to  suit  him. "  The  people  evidenUy  had  nothing 
to  say  about  it. 

The  experiences  of  New  York  and  Femuylvania 
are  by  no  means  isolated;  they  are  illustrative. 
Very  few  SUtes  have  escaped  a  legislative  scandal. 
In  particular,  Rhode  Island,  Delaware,  Illinois, 
Colorado,  Montana,  California.  Oiiio,  Mississippi, 
Texas  can  give  pertinent  testimony  to  the  willing- 
ness of  legislatures  to  prostitute  their  great  powers 
to  the  will  of  the  boss  or  the  machine. 


/    ! 


CHAPTEBvni 


THB  NAHONAI,  HURABCBT 

AiaaucANpohtical  maneuver  culminates  .tW«h. 
-.rton.  The  Presidency  .„d,en.be«hip  in  t^ 
Senate  and  the  House  of  RepresentaUves  .^  2l 

^usly  foWowed.  the  judicial  department  T^t 
beyond  the  reach  of  party  greed. 
The  framers  of  the  Constitution  believed  that 

^-t  and   Vice-P^sident  which  wo  J  pre^'t 
thecho.cef«>mpartizantaint.    E«=h  State  should 

t^"  .T  "'  •^''"^"  "•^"''  *»  «>«=  -ho'e 
Ist  ^'"^  ■"'  ""P^-t-tives  to  which 
theSUtemaybeentiUedintheCong^ss."  These 
dec^ors  were  to  form  an  independent  body.  Z 
meet  u  Uieir  respective  States  and  "ballot  for  two 
persons.  .u,d  send  the  re«.lt  of  their  balloting  to 
ihe  Capitol,  where  the  President  of  the  Senate, 
m  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  the  HousJ 


V^^ 


m 


i 


184        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
of  Representatives,  opened   the  certificates  and 
counted  the  votes.    The  one  receiving  the  greatest 
number  of  votes  was  to  be  declared  elected  Pres- 
ident, the  one  receiving  the  next  highest  number 
of  votes,  Vice-President.    George  Washington  was 
the  only  President  elected  by  such  an  autonomous 
group.    The  election  of  John  Adams  was  bitterly 
contested,  and  the  voters  knew,  when  they  were 
casting  their  ballots  in  1796,  whether  they  were 
voting  for  a  Federalist  or  a  Jeffersonian.    Prom 
that  day  forward  this  greatest  of  political  prizes 
has  been  awarded  through  partizan  competition. 
In  1804  the  method  of  selecting  the  Vice-Pres- 
ident was  changed  by  the  twelfth  constitutional 
amendment.     The  electors  since  that  time  ballot 
for  President  and  Vice-President.   Whatever  may 
be  the  legal  privileges  of  the  p^  -•'ibers  of  the  Elec- 
toral College,  they  are  considt   ■     by  the  voters, 
as  agents  of  the  party  upon  whose  tickets  their 
names  appear,  and  to  abuse  this  relationship  would 
universally  be  deemed  an  act  of  perfidy. 

The  Constitution  permits  the  legislatures  of 
the  States  to  determine  how  the  electors  shall 
be  chosen.  In  the  earlier  period,  the  legislatures 
elected  them ;  later  they  were  elected  by  the  people; 
sometimes  they  were  elected  at  laige,  but  usually 


« 


S  n 


THE  NATIONAL  HIERAKCH\  isa 

they  were  chosen  by  districts.  And  this  i,  now  the 
general  custom.  Since  the  development  of  direct 
nominntions,  there  hw  been  a  strong  movement 
towards  the  abolition  of  the  Electoral  College  and 
the  elecUon  of  the  President  by  direct  vote. 

ITie  President  is  the  most  powerful  official  in  our 
government  and  in  many  respects  he  is  the  most 
powerful  ruler  in  the  world.    He  is  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  aud  Navy.     His  is  virtually 
the  sole  responsibility  in  conducting  international 
relations.    He  is  at  the  head  of  the  civil  admin- 
istration and  all  the  important  administrative  de- 
partments are  answerable  to  him.     He  possesses 
a  vast  power  of  appointment  through  which  he 
dispenses  political  favors.    His  wish  is  potent  in 
shaping  legislation  and  his  veto  is  rarely  over- 
ridden.    With  Congress  he  must  be  in  daily  con- 
tact; for  the  Senate  has  the  power  of  ratifying  or 
discarding  his  appointments  and  of  sanctioning  or 
rejecting  his  treaties  with  foreign  countries;  and 
the  House  of  Representatives  originates  all  money 
bills  and  thus  possesses  a  formidable  check  upon 
executive  usurpation. 

The  Constitution  originally  reposed  the  choice 
of  United  States  Senatow  with  the  state  legis- 
latures.   A  great  deal  of  virtue  was  to  flow  from 


tf 


■'  .,1 


IW       ™E  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
»uch  «n  indimrt  election.    The  member,  of  the 
legislature  were  preromed  to  «A  with  calm  judir- 
ment  and  to  choo«  only  the  wi«,  and  experienced 
for  the  digmty  of  the  toga.    And  until  the  period 

State,  delwhted  to  «md  their  ablest  statesmen  to 
the  Senate.    Upon  its  roll  we  find  the  names  of 
many  of  our  illustrious  orators  and  juriste.    After 
the  Civil  War.  when  the  spirit  of  commemalism 
wvad^  every  activity,  men   who  were   merely 
nch  began  to  aspire  to  senatorial  honors.    The  de- 
bauch of  the  state  legislatures  which  was  revealed 
in  the  closiiig  year  of  the  nineteenth  century  and 
the  opening  days  of  the  twentieth  so  revolted  the 
people  that  the  seventeenth  constitutional  amend- 
ment was  adopted  (1913)  providing  for  the  election 
of  senators  by  direct  vote. 

The  House  of  Representatives  was  designed  to 
be  the  -popular  house."  Ito  election  from  small 
districts,  by  direct  vote,  every  two  yean,  is  a  guar- 
antee  of  its  popular  character.  Prom  this  charac- 
tanstic  It  has  never  departed.  It  is  the  People's 
House.  It  originates  all  revenue  measures.  On 
ita  floor,  in  the  rough  and  tumble  of  debate,  par- 
tizan  motives  are  rarely  absent. 
Upon  this  natiomU  tripod,  the  Presidency,  the 


THE  NATIONAL  HIERABCHY  m 
Senate,  and  the  House,  is  builded  the  vast  na- 
Uonal  party  machine.    Eve^r  citi«.n  i, /.«{«„ 

part.«  as  they  strive  in  placid  times  to  create  a 
real  «sue  of  the  tariff,  or  imperialism,  or  what 
not.  so  as  to  estaWish  at  least  an  ostensible  differ- 
ence between  them;  or  as  they,  in  critical  times, 
make  the  party  name  synonymous  with  national 
«ecunty.    The  Ugh-sounding  platforms,  the  fren- 
zied orators,  the  parades,  mass-meetings,  special 
trams,  pamphlets,  books,  editorials,  lithographs 
P««.t«s-all  these  paraphernalia  are  conjured  up 
m  the  voter's  mind  when  he  reads   the  words 
Democratic  and  Republican. 

But,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  professional  poli- 
Ucm.  all  this  that  the  voter  sees  is  a  mask,  the 
patriotic  veneer  to  hide  the  machine,  that  complex 
hierarchy  of  committees  ranging  from  Washington 
to  every  cross-roads  in  the  Republic.  The  com- 
mrttee  system,  described  in  a  former  chapter,  was 
perfected  by  the  Republican  party  during  the 
days  of  the  Civil  War.  mider  the  stress  of  national 
necessity.      The  great  party  leaders  were  then 
in  Congress.      When  the  assassination  of  Lincoh 
placed  Andrew  Johnson  in  power,  the  bitter  quar^ 
rel  between   Congress  and  the  President  firmly 


mU 


I* 

I      \ 


fl'j 


I  [ 


188        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
united  the  Hepublicana;  and  in  order  to  cany  the 
mid^ertion  in  1868.  they  o^ranized  a  Congrea- 
sional  Campaign  Committee  to  conduct  the  can- 
vass.   This  pracUce  has  been  continued  by  both 
parties,  and  in  "off"  yean,  it  plays  a  veor  proai- 
nent  part  m  the  party  campaign.    Con  wss  alone, 
however,  was  only  half  the  conquest.    It  was  only 
through  control  of  the  Administration  that  access 
was  gained  to  the  succulent  herbage  of  federal 
pasturage  and  that  vast  political  prestige  with  the 
voter  was  achieved. 

The  President  is  nominally  the  head  of  his 
party.    In  reality  he  may  not  be;  he  may  be  only 
the  President.    T|.at  depends  upon  his  personality, 
his  desires,  his  hold  upon  Congress  and  upon  the 
people,  and  upon  the  circumstances  of  the  hour 
During  the  Grant  Administration,  as  already  de- 
scribed, there  existed,  in  every  sense  of  the  term,  a 
federal  machine.    It  held  Congress,  the  Executive, 
and  the  vast   federal   patronage   in  its  power. 
All  the  federal  office-holders,  all  the  postmasters 
and  theu-  assistants,  revenue  collectors,  inspectors, 
clerks,  marshals,  deputies,  consuls,  and  ambassa- 
dors were  a  part  of  the  organization,  contribut- 
ing to  its  maintenance.     We  often  hear  today  of 
the  "Federal  Crowd."  a  term   used  to  describe 


THE  NATIONAL  HIERARCHY         139 
Midi  appointees  as  stiU  subsist  on  presidential  and 
senatorial  favor.    In  Grant's  time,  this  "crowd" 
was  a  genuine  mackine.  constructed,  unlike  some 
of  Its  successors,  from  the  center  outward.    But 
the  "boss"  of  this  machine  was  not  the  President 
It  was  controlled  by  a  group  of  leading  Congress^ 
men.  who  used  their  power  for  dicUting  appoint- 
ments and  framing  "desirable  "legislation.   Grant, 
in  the  imaginaUon  of  the  people,  symbolized  the 
cause  their  sacrifices  had  won;  and  thus  his  moral 
prestige  became  the  cloak  of  the  political  plotters. 
A  number  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  RepubUcan 
party,  however,  stood  aloof;  and  by  1876  a  move- 
ment against  the  manipulators  had  set  in.    Civil 
service  reform  had  become  a  real  issue.   Hayes 
the  "dark  horse"  who  was   nominated  in  that 
year,  declared,  in  accepting  the  nomination,  that 
"reform  should  be  thorough,  radical,  and  com- 
plete."   He  promised  not  to  be  a  candidate  for 
a  second  term,  thus  avoiding  the  tempUtion.  to 
which  almost  every  President   has  succumbed. 
of  using  the  patronage  to  secure  his  reelection." 
The  party  managers  pretended  not  to  hear  these 
promises.    And  when  Hayes,  after  his  inaugura- 
tion, actually  began  to  put  them  into  force,  they 
set  the  whole   machinery  of  the  party  against 


ff' 


f  »,  i 


1./  '\ 


I,; 


140       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

the  President     Ifatten  came  to  a  head  when 

the  President  issued  an  order  commanding  federal 

office-holders  to  refrain  from  political  activity. 

This  order  was  generally  defied,  especially  in  New 

York  City  in  the  post-offioe  and  customs  rings. 

Two  notorious  offenders.  Cornell  and  Arthur,  were 

dismissed  from  office  by  the  President.    But  the 

-mate,  influenced  by  Roscoe  Conkling's  power. 

■  jftised  to  confirm  the  Presidrat's  new  appointees; 

and  under  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act,  which  had 

been  passed  to  tie  President  Johnson's  hands,  the 

offenders  remained  in  office  over  a  year.  The  fight 

disciplined  the  President  and  the  machine  in  about 

equal  proportions.    The  President  became  more 

amenable  and  the  machine  less  arbitrary. 

President  Garfield  attempted  the  hnpossible  feat 
of  obliging  both  the  politicians  and  the  reform- 
ers. He  was  persuaded  to  make  nominations  to 
federal  offices  in  New  York  without  consulting 
either  of  the  senators  from  that  State,  Conkling 
and  Piatt.  Conkling  appealed  to  the  Senate  to 
reject  the  New  York  appointees  sent  in  by  the 
President.  The  Senate  failed  to  sustain  him. 
Conkling  and  his  colleague  Piatt  resigned  from 
the  Senate  and  appealed  to  the  New  York  legis- 
lature, which  also  refused  to  sustain  them. 


THE  NATIONAL  BIBRABCHY         ui 
mae  this  .b«.H  farce  wa.  going  on.  .  mow 
«ioui  ferment  wa.  brewing.    On  July  «,  1881. 
ftwident  Garfield  was  assassinated  by  a  disap- 
pomted  office-seeker  named  Guiteau.     TTie  at- 
tenUon  of  the  people  was  suddeuJy  turned  from 
the  ndiculous  diversion  of  the  Conkling  incident 
to  the  tragedy  and  its  cause.    They  «iw  the  chief 
office  m  their  gift  a  mere  pawn  in  the  game  of 
place-seekers,  the  time  and  energy  of  their  Presi- 
dent wP.ted  in  bickerings  with  congressmen  over 
petty  appointments,  and  the  machineiy  of  their 
Government  dominated  by  the  machine^r  of  the 
PMty  for  ignoble  or  selfish  ends. 

At  last  the  advocates  of  reform  found  their 
opportum-ty.    In  1883  the  Civil  Service  Act  was 
POMed.  taking  from  the  President  about  14.000 
appointments.    Since  then  nearly  eveo- President, 
towards  the  end  of  his  term,  especially  his  second 
term,  has  added  to  the  numbew.   until  nearly 
two-thirds  of  the  federal  offices  are  now  filled 
by  examination.    President  Cleveland  during  his 
second  term  made  sweeping  additions.    President 
Boosevdt  found  about  100.000  in  the  classified 
service  and  left  200.000.  President  Taft.  before  his 
retirement,  placed  in  the  classified  service  assistant 
postmasters  and  clerks  in  first- and  second-class 


J!r 


<  I 


^i'l 


IM       THB  B068  AND  THE  lUCHINE 
port-officea,  about  48,000  rural  delivery  carriers, 
and  over  80,000  skilled  workers  in  the  navy  yards. 

The  appomting  power  of  the  President,  however, 
•til]  remains  the  principal  point  of  his  contact  with 
the  machine.  He  has,  of  course,  other  means  of 
•howing  partiian  favors.  Tari£F  laws,  laws  regu- 
lating interstate  commerce,  reciprocity  treaties, 
"pork  barrels,"  pensions,  financial  poUcies,  are  all 
pregnant  with  political  possibilities. 

The  second  official  unit  in  the  national  political 
hierarchy  is  the  House  of  RepresenUtives,  control- 
ling the  purse-strings,  which  have  been  the  deadly 
noose  of  many  ^ecutive  measures.  The  House  is 
elected  every  two  years,  so  that  it  may  ever  be 
"near  to  the  people"!  This  produces  a  reflex 
not  anticipated  by  the  Fathers  of  the  G>nstitution. 
It  gives  the  representative  brief  respite  from  the 
necessities  of  politics,  and  hence  little  time  for  the 
necessities  of  the  State. 

The  House  attained  the  zenith  of  its  power 
when  it  arraigned  President  Johnson  at  the  bar 
of  the  Senate  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors 
in  office.  It  had  shackled  his  appointing  power 
by  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act;  it  had  forced  iU 
plan  of  reconstruction  over  his  veto;  and  now  it 
led  him,  dogged  and  defiant,  to  a  political  trial. 


THE  NATIONAL  HIEHABCHY  14s 
WitLm  .  few  ye«  the  cl»««ter  of  the  Hou» 
f»»n«ed.  A  new  genewtlon  intereited  in  the 
«u«  of  proiperity.  mther  th«,  tho.e  of  the  w«. 
«te«d  public  life.  He  House  g«w  unwieldy^ 
«»  and  Its  buM'neM  inci««ed  mknninirly  He 
^ority  n.e«.whfle.  Mdned  the  power.l«ugh 
fihburtenng.  to  hold  up  the  burine-  „f  th, 
country. 

It''"  under  «uch  condition,  that  SpeJter  Reed 
m  1890.  crowned  hin«elf  "C«r"  by  compelling 
a  quorum     m  he  did  by  counUng  „  .Zuy 
prtaent  all  members  whom  the  clerk  reported  a. 
present  but  not  voting. "    The  minority  fought 
deverately  for  it»  last  privilege  and  even  to2  . 
««e  to  the  Supreme  Court  to  test  the  constitu- 
Jonality  of  a  law  p«««l  by  a  Beed-made  quorum 
The  court  concurred  with  the  «m«ble  opinion  of 
U.e  country  that  "when  the  quonm.  i,  p„«.t. 
It  u  there  for  the  purpose  of  doing  burine..  " 
«.  opmion  that  was  completely  vindicated  wh^ 
the  Dem«>cratic  minority  became  a  majority  and 
adopted  the  rule  for  its  own  advantage 

By  this  ruling,  the  SpeakersUp  was  lifted  to  a 
newemmence.  The  party  caucus.  wUch  nomi- 
nated the  Speaker,  and  to  which  momentous  party 
quesUons  were  referred,  gave  soKdarity  to^e 


■Sll 


ri 


««c«oeofr  MsoiuTiON  tbt  omit 

(ANSI  and  JSO  TEST  CHART  No.  J) 


IM 


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1.8 


Mmiji 


^  APPLIED  IM/fl3E    Inc 

^^^  1653  Ea(t  Min  SIrMi 

=I^S  nocrwtlar,  New  York        14609      USA 

Kj|=  ('16)  482  -  0300  -  Phone 

^S  (716)  2U  -  59BS  -  Fax 


144       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
party.    But  the  influence  of  the  Speaker,  through 
his  power  of  appointing  committees,  of  referring 
biUs,  of  recognizing  members  who  wished  to  partici- 
pate in  debate,  insured  that  discipline  and  central- 
j  -d  authority  which  makes  mass  action  effective. 
Tiie  power  of  the  Speaker  was  further  enlarged 
by  the  creation  of  the  Rules  Committee,  composed 
of  the  Speaker  and  two  members  from  each  party 
designated  by  him.     This  committee  formed  a 
triumvirate  (the  minority  members  were  merely 
formal  members)  which  set  the  limits  of  debate, 
proposed  special  rules  for  such  occasions  as  the 
committee  thought  proper,  and  virtually  deter- 
mined the  destiny  of  bills.    So  it  came  about,  as 
Bryce  remarks,  that  the  choice  of  the  Speaker 
was  "apolitical  event  of  the  highest  significance." 
It  was  under  the  regency  of  Speaker  Cannon 
that  the  power  of  the  Speaker's  office  attained 
its  climax.    The  Republicans  had  a  laige  major- 
ity in  the  House  and  the  old  war-horses  felt  like 
colts.    They  assumed  their  leadership,  however, 
with  that  obliviousness  to  youth  which  usually 
characterizes  old  age.    The  gifted  and  attractive 
Reed  had  ruled  often  by  aphorism  and  wit,  but 
the  unimaginative  Cannon  ruled  by  the  gavel 
alone;  and  in  the  course  of  time  he  and  his  clique 


THE  NATIONAL  mERARCHY         145 

of  veterans  forgot  entirely  the  difference  between 
power  and  leadership. 

ud.  tyranny  It  was  not  against  party  organi- 
nation  Umt  the  insolvents  finally  raised  Lieir 
lances,  but  against  the  arbitrary  „se  of  the  ma- 
dunery  of  the  organization  by  a  small  group  of 
-.trenched  "standpatters."  The  «volt  4an 
dunng  U.e  debate  on  the  Payne-,  ildrich  Zb 
and  in  the  campaign  of  1008  "Cannonism"  was' 
denounced  from  the  stump  in  eve^^  part  of  the 

able.  w,th  the  aid  of  the  Democrats,  to  amend 
the  rules,  mcreasing  the  Committee  on  Rules 
to  ten  to  be  elected  by  the  House  and  making 
Ae  Speaker  meligible  for  membership.   When  the 
Democrats  secured  control  of  the  House  in  the  f  ol- 
owmg  year,  the  rules  were  revised,  and  the  se- 
lection of  an  committees  is  now  determined  by  a 
Committee  on  Committees  chosen  in  party  cau- 
cus.   This  change  shifts  arbitrary  power  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  Speaker  to  the  shoulders  of  the 
P«ty  chieftains.     The  power  of  the  Speaker  has 
be«.  lessened  but  by  no  means  destroyed.    He  is 
still  the  party  chanticleer. 
The  poliU,  J  power  of  the  House,  however. 


m 


m 
'•1 


^<  ij 


146       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINE 

cannot  be  calculated  without  admitting  to  the 
equation  the  Senate,  the  third  official  unit,  and, 
indeed,   the  most  powerful  factor   in    the  na- 
tional hierarchy.    The  Senate  shares  equally  with 
the  House  the  responsibility  of  lawmaking,  and 
shares  with  the  President  the  responsibility  of 
appointments  and  of  treaty-making.    It  has  been 
the  scene  of  many    -<emorabIe  contests  with  the 
President  for  political  control.    The  senators  are 
elder  sUtesmen,  who  have  passed  through  the 
refining  fires  of  experience,  either  in  law,  business, 
or  politics.    A  senator  is  elected  for  six  years;  so 
that  he  has  a  period  of  rest  between  elections, 
in  which  he  may  forget  his  constituents  in  the 
ardor  of  his  duties. 

Within  the  last  few  decades  a  great  change 
has  come  over  the  Senate,  over  its  membership,  its 
attitude  towards  public  questions,  and  its  relation 
to  the  electorate.  This  has  been  brought  about 
through  disclosures  tending  to  show  the  relations 
on  the  part  of  some  senators  towards  "big  busi- 
ness. "  As  early  as  the  Granger  revelations  of  rail- 
way machinations  in  politics,  in  the  seventies,  a 
popular  distrust  of  the  Senate  became  pronounced. 
No  suggestion  of  corruption  was  implied,  but  cer- 
Uin  senators  were  known  as  "railway  senators," 


THE  NATIONAL  HIERABCHY         147 
and  were  believed  to  u«  their  partizan  influence 
m  their  friend.'  behalf.     This  feeling  increased 
from  year  to  year,  until  what  wa«  long  suspected 
came  suddenly  to  light,  through  an  entirely  unex- 
pected agency.  William  Randolph  Hearst,  a  news- 
paper owner  who  had  in  vain  attempted  to  secure 
a  nommation  for  President  by  the  Democrats 
and  to  get  himself  elected  Governor  of  New  York 
had  organized  and  financed  a  party  of  his  own.  the 
Independence  League.    While  speaking  in  behalf 
of  his  party,  in  the  fall  of  1908.  he  read  extracts 
from  letters  written  by  an  official  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  to  various  senators.     The  letters 
it  later  appeared,  had  been  purloined  from  the' 
Company's  files  by  a  faithless  employee.     They, 
caused  a  tremendous  sensaUon.    The  public  mind 
had  become  so  sensitive  that  the  mere  fact  that 
an  intimacy  existed  between  the  most  notorious 
of  trusts  and  some  few  United  States  senators - 
the  coirespondents  called  each  other  "Dear  John  " 
"Dear  Senator."  etc. -was  sufficient  to  arouL 
the  general  wraJi.    The  letters  disclosed  a  ke  n 
mterest  on  the  oart  of  the  corporation  in   the 
details  of  legislation,  and  the  public  promptly 
took  the  Standard  Oil  Company  as  a  type.   They 
believed,  without  demanding  tangible  proof,  thut 


* 


Hi 


148       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
other  great  corporations  were,  in  some  ainister 
manner,  influencing  legislation.      Bailroads,  in- 
surance companies,  great  banking  concerns,  vast 
industrial  corporations,  were  associated  in  the 
public  mind  as  "the  InteresU. "    And  the  United 
States  Senate  was  deemed  the  stronghold  of  the 
interests.    A  saturnalia  of  senatorial  muckraking 
new  laid  bare  the  "oligarchy,"  as  the  small  group 
of  powerful   veteran    Senators    who    controlled 
the  senatorial  machinery  was  called.    It  was  dis- 
closed that  the  centralization  of  leadership  in 
the  Senate  coincided  with  the  centralization  of 
power  in  the  Democratic  and  Republican  national 
machines.    In  1911  and  1912  a  "money  trust" 
investigation  was  conducted  by  the  Senate  and  a 
comfortable  mtenie  was  revealed  between  a  group 
of  bankers,  insurance  companies,  manufacturers, 
and  other  interests,  carried  on  through  an  elabo- 
rate system  of  interlocking  directoiates.    Finally, 
in  1912,  the  Senate  ordered  its  Committee  on 
Privileges  and  Elections  to  investigate  campaign 
contributions  paid  to  the  national  campaign  com- 
mittees in  1904,  1908,  and  1918.    The  testimony 
taken  before  this  committee  supplied  the  country 
with  authentic  daU  of  the  interrelations  of  Big 
Business  and  Big  Politics. 


THE  NATIONAL  HIEBABCHY         149 

The  revolt  .g«„,t  "Cam.oni«n"  in  the  Hou« 
^.U  cou^te^  i„  the  Senate.    By  the  tC 

ten  Bepubhcan  «a,ato«  rebelled.     The  wvolt 
gathered  n.omentun.  and  cuhninated  in  lowt 

^U  r^Tj^'"^'  "  '»•  ««'didatrS 
^.dent  and  Hiran.  John«.n  of  California  for 
Vwe-Pnesident.  Tie  niajority  of  the  Pw.g««i^ 
-turned  to  theBepubhean  fold  in  1916.   ^Z 


J  I 


/  I 


CHAPTER  IX 


THB  AWAKENINO 


In  the  eariy  days  a  baUot  was  simply  a  piece  of 
paper  with  the  names  of  the  candidates  written 
or  printed  on  it.    As  party  oiganizaUons  became 
more  ambitious,  the  party  printed  its  own  ballots, 
and  "scratching"  was  done  by  pasting  gummed 
stickers,  with  the  names  of  the  substitutes  printed 
on  them,  over  the  r^ular  baUot,  or  by  simply 
striking  out  a  name  and  writing  another  one  in 
ito  place.    It  was  customary  to  print  the  dififerent 
party  tickets  on  diflFerent  colored  paper,  so  that 
the  judges  in  charge  of  the  baUot  boxes  could  tell 
how  the  men  voted.    When  kter  laws  required 
aU  ballots  to  be  printed  on  white  paper  and  of 
the  same  sire,  the  parties  used  paper  of  dififerent 
texture.     Election  officials  could  then  tell  by  the 
"feel "  which  ticket  was  voted.     KnaUy  paper  of 
the  same  color  and  quality  was  enjoined  by  some 
SUtes.    But  it  was  not  until  the  State  itself  under- 

IM 


THE  AWAKENING  m, 

took  to  print  the  baUoU  that  uniformity  was 

In  the  meantime  the  peddling  of  ticket,  wa.  a 
k«uUp  occupation  on  Section  day.    Canvawen 
invaded  home,  and  pluus.  of  bu.ineM.and  even 
.urromided  the  voting  ph««.    It  waa  ti,e  custom 
in  many  part,  of  tiie  country  for  the  voter,  u) 
prepare  tiie  ballot,  before  reaching  the  voting- 
place  and  carry  tiiem  in  U.e  vest  pocket,  witi,  a 
™«Km  lowing.    -Hii.  wa.  a  K,n  of  rignal  that 
the  voter',  mind  had  been  made  up  and  that  he 
Aould  be  let  alone,  yet  even  wiU»  tins  signal  diow- 
mg.  m  hotiy  contcted  elections  ti,e  voter  ran  a 
nowy  gauntiet  of  eager  «,licitor..  hara«ing  him 
on  hi.  way  to  vote  a.  cab  drivers  awail  the  traveler 
when  he  alights  from  tiie  train.  Thi.  free  and  easy 
meUiod.  tolerable  in  sparsely  settied  pioneer  dis- 
tncts.  failed  miserably  m  the  cities.    It  was  neces- 
sy  to  paM  rigorous  law.  against  vote  buying  and 
«Umg.  and  to  clear  tiie  polling-place  of  all  partizan 
sohdbng.    Penal  provisions  were  enacted  against 
mtmudation.  violence.  rep«iting.  false  swearing 
when  challenged,  ballot-bor  stuffing,  and  tiie  more 
patent  forms  of  partizan  vices.    L,  order  to  stop 

the  practice  of  "repeating."New  York  earlypawed 
laws  requiring  voters  to  be  duly  registered. 


4 

"a- 
•i" 


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t 


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m 

||1 

^  5 

M 

W«       TBE  B068  AND  THE  BIACHINE 

But  the  early  lawi  wen  defective,  and  the  roll* 
were  eaaily  padded.  In  mort  <rf  the  dUes  poll 
li«U  were  made  by  the  party  workers,  and  the 
name  of  each  voter  was  checked  off  as  he  voted. 
It  was  still  impossible  for  the  voter  to  keep  secret 
hw  ballot.  The  buyer  of  votes  could  tell  whether 
he  got  what  he  paid  for;  the  employer,  so  disposed, 
could  bully  those  dependent  on  him  into  voUng 
as  he  wished,  and  the  way  was  open  to  all  manner 
of  tricks  in  the  printing  of  ballots  with  misleading 
emblems,  or  with  certain  names  omitted,  oi-  with 
8  mixture  of  candidates  from  various  parties— 
tricks  that  were  later  forbidden  by  law  but  were 
none  the  less  common. 

Bather  suddenly  a  great  change  cwiie  over 
elecUon  day.  In  1888  Kentucky  adopted  the 
Australian  ballot  for  the  dty  of  Louisville,  and 
Massac^usetU  adopted  it  for  all  state  and  local 
elections.  The  Massachusetts  statute  provided 
that  before  en  elecUon  each  political  party  should 
certify  its  p  ^minees  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. The  State  then  printed  the  baUots. 
AH  the  nominees  of  all  the  parties  were  printed 
on  one  sheet.  Each  office  was  placed  in  a  sepa- 
ra,te  column,  the  candidates  in  alphabetical  order, 
with  the  names  of  the  parties  following.    Blank 


THE  AWAKENING  ua 

;n  w«e  Wt  for  tho*  who  widied  to  vote 
foro^«.tl«nthe.eguI.rnoml„«..    nu.  fo™. 

of  Wlot  p«ve„ted  ••  voUng  rtr^ght  ••  with  .  «ngle 
-      t    The  voter,  m  the  «clu«on  of  «  booth  at 

LteH^™  ;i      •  '-^  *»  P***  J^  P«t/.  candi- 
auet  itom  the  numerous  columna. 

the  bal  ot  had  certain  modificaUon.  to  .uit  the 
need,  of  party  Orthodoxy.  Here  the  columns  «- 
preaented  parties,  not  offices.  Each  party  had  a 
column.  E«,h  colunm  waa  headed  by  the  party 
name  «.d  ,t.  device.  «.  that  tho«,  who  3 
not  read  could  vote  for  the  Roorter  ,>r  the  Eagle 
ortheFounUm  llere  was  a  ci„:le  placed  unJer 
the  device,  and  by  making  his  mark  in  this  circle 
tne  voter  voted  straight. 

Wthin  ejrht  yea«  thirty^ght  States  and  two 
Temtone.  h«l  adopted  the  Australian  or  blanket 
ballHm  some  modified  form.    It  was  but  a  step 
to  the  state  control  of  the  election  machinery 
Some  state  officer,  usually  the  Secretaiy  of  State 
was  d«,,gnated  to  see  that  the  election  laws  wer^ 
enforced.     In  New  York  a  SUte  Commissioner 
of  Elections  was  appointed.    The  appointment  of 
ocal  inspectors  and  judges  remained  for  a  time  in 
the  hands  of  the  parties.    But  soon  in  several 


i-  ♦ 


i'^ 


'i; 


IM  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  BIACHINE 
SutM  even  this  power  wh  taken  from  tbem.  aud 
the  trend  now  i*  towa'da  appointing  all  dection 
officer!  by  the  central  authority.  Thtte  officers 
alio  have-  complete  diaige  of  the  regittration  of 
voten.  In  wme  SUtet,  like  New  York,  tegistra. 
tion  has  become  a  rather  solemn  pn>cediire,  re. 
quiring  the  answering  of  many  questions  and  the 
signing  of  the  voter's  name,  all  under  the  threat 
of  peijuiy  if  a  wilful  misrepresenUtion  is  made. 

So  passed  out  of  the  control  of  the  party  the 
preparation  of  the  ballot  and  the  use  of  the  ballot 
onelecUonday.  Innumerable  rules  have  been  laid 
down  by  the  SUte  for  the  conduct  of  elecUons. 
The  distribution  of  the  ballots,  their  custody  be- 
fore election,  the  order  of  electional  procedure, 
the  counting  of  the  ballots,  the  making  of  returns, 
the  custody  of  the  baUot-boxes,  and  all  other 
necessary  details,  are  regulated  by  law  under 
offidal  state  supervision.  The  parties  are  allowed 
watchers  at  the  polls,  but  these  have  no  official 
standing. 

If  a  Revolutionary  Father  could  visit  his  old 
haunto  on  election  day,  he  would  be  astonished  at 
the  sober  decorum.  In  his  time  elections  lasted 
three  days,  days  filled  with  harangue,  with  drink- 
ing, betting,  raillery,  and  occasional  encounters. 


THE  AWAKENING  ^5 

Even  tliow  who*,  Baemoorgoe.l»ck  to  the  Civil 
II  W«  c«,  contrwt  the  Wfot  peddling,  the  wMcit- 
I  111*,  the  crowded  iioi.y  poIling-pl«»^  with  theclm 
«d  qu.et  with  which  men  depo«t  their  bUlota 
today.  Por  now  every  bUlot  i.  numbered  wd 
no  one  w  permitted  to  tJce  .  ringle  copy  from  the 
room  Ev«y  voter  mu.tprepMe  his  ballot  in  the 
booth.  And  every  poUing.pl«e  i.  an  id«d  of 
.mmumty  in  the  «»  of  political  excitement. 

of  tt^e  ballot,  they  were  proceeding  to  g«n  control 
of  their  leguUture..  In  WW  M««achu«etts  en- 
acted one  of  the  firitantilobbyUw..  itha,«,rved 
M  a  model  for  many  other  SUte..  It  provided 
that  tie  sergeant-at-anmi  dwuld  keep  docket,  in 
which  were  enrolled  the  name,  of  all  perwn.  em- 
ployed  a.  coun«d  or  ,  nU  befow  legi.l.Uve 
committees.  Each  coun  ^  or  agent  was  further 
impelled  to  sUte  the  length  of  hi.  engagement, 
the  subjecU  or  bills  for  which  he  was  employed 
and  the  name  and  addrew  of  his  employer 

The  first  session  after  the  passage  of  this  law 
many  of  the  professional  lobbyists  refused  to  enroll' 
«.d  the  most  notoriou.  ones  were  seen  no  mo«  in' 
the  SUte  House.    The  regular  coum«l  of  railroads 
msurance  companies,  and  other  interests  signed 


r 


4 


we        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

the  proper  docket  and  appeared  for  their  clients 

in  open  committee  meetings. 

The  law  made  it  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Commonwealth  to  report  to  the  law  officers  of 
the  State,  for  prosecution,  all  those  who  failed  to 
comply  with  the  act.  Sixty-seven  such  delinquents 
were  reported  the  first  year.  The  Grand  Jury 
refused  to  indict  them,  but  the  number  of  recalci- 
trants has  gradually  diminished. 

The  experience  of  Massachusetts  is  not  unique. 
Other  States  passed  more  or  less  rigorous  anti- 
lobby  laws,  and  today,  in  no  state  Capitol,  will  the 
visitor  see  the  disgusting  sights  that  were  usual 
thirty  years  ago  —  arrogant  and  coarse  profes- 
sional "agents"  mingling  on  the  floor  of  the  legis- 
lature with  members,  even  suggesting  procedure 
to  presiding  officers,  and  not  infrequently  com- 
mandeering a  majority.  Such  influences,  where 
they  persist,  have  been  driven  under  cover. 

With  the  decline  of  the  professional  lobbyist 
came  the  rise  of  the  volunteer  lobbyist.  Impor- 
tant bills  are  now  considered  in  formal  committee 
hearings  which  are  well  advertised  so  that  inter- 
ested parties  may  be  present.  Publicity  and  in- 
formation have  taken  the  place  of  secrecy  in 
legislative  procedure.    The  gathering  of  expert  tes- 


147 


THE  AWAKENING  „. 

timony  by  speciallegislativecommissionsof  inquiry 
w  now  a  frequent  practice  in  respect  to  subjects  of 
wide  social  import,  such  as  workmen's  compensa- 
tion, widows*  pensions,  and  factoiy  conditions. 

A  number  of  States  have  resorted  to  the  iniU- 
aUve  and  referendum  as  appKed  to  ordinary  legis- 
lation.   By  means  of  this  method  a  small  percent- 
age  of  the  voters,  from  eight  to  ten  per  cent,  may 
mitiate  proposals  and  impose  upon  the  voters  the 
function  of  legislation.    South  Dakota,  in  1898. 
made  constitutional  provision  for  direct  legisl  J 
tion.    Utah  followed  in   1900.  Or^n  in  1902, 
Nevada  in  1904.  Montana  in   1906.  and  Okla- 
homa in  1907.    East  of  the  Mississippi,  several 
States  have  adopted  a  modified  form  of  the  initi- 
aUve  and  referendum.    In  Oregon,  where  this 
device  of  direct  government  has  been  most  assid- 
uously applied,  the  voters  in  1008  voted  upon 
nineteen  diflferent  bills  and  constitutional  amend- 
ments; in  1910  the  number  increased  to  tUrty- 
two;  in  1012,  to  thirty-seven;  in  1914  it  fell  to 
twenty-nine.    The  vote  cast  for  these  measures 
rarely  exceeded  eighty  per  cent  of  those  voting  at 
the  election  and  frequenUy  fell  below  sixty. 

The  electorate  that  attempts  to  rid  itself  of 
the  evils  of  the  state  legishture  by  these  heroic 


1  i 


• 


^i 


11. 


1S8  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
methods  asgiunes  a  heavy  responaibility.  When 
the  burden  of  direct  legislation  is  added  to  the  task 
of  choosing  from  the  long  list  of  elective  officers 
which  is  placed  before  the  voter  at  every  local 
and  state  election,  it  is  not  surprising  that  there 
should  set  in  a  reaction  in  favor  of  simplified  gov- 
ernment. The  mere  separation  of  state  and  local 
elections  does  not  solve  the  problem.  It  somewhat 
minimizes  the  chances  of  partizan  influence  over 
the  voter  in  local  elections;  but  the  voter  is  still 
confronted  with  the  long  lists  of  candidates  for 
elective  offices.  Ballots  not  infrequently  con- 
tain two  hundred  names,  sometimes  even  three 
hundred  or  more,  covering  candidates  of  four  or 
five  parties  for  scores  of  offices.  These  blanket 
ballots  are  sometimes  three  feet  long.  After  an 
election  in  Chicago  in  1916,  one  of  the  leading 
dailies  expressed  sympathy  "for  the  voter  emerg- 
ing from  the  polling-booth,  clutching  a  handful  of 
papers,  one  of  them  about  half  as  large  as  a  bed 
sheet."  Probably  most  voters  were  able  to  express 
a  real  preference  among  the  national  candidates. 
It  is  almost  equally  certain  that  most  voters 
were  not  able  to  express  a  real  preference  among 
important  local  administrative  officials.  A  huge 
ballot,  all  printed  over  with  names,  supplemented 


THE  AWAKKNIN6  j^j 

by  a  series  of  smaller  ballot..  c«  never  be  a 
^g^le  instrument  even  for  «.  electo«te  a. 
intelligent  as  ours. 

Simplification  is  the  p«,pheUc  watchword  in 
state  govermnent  today.  For  cities,  the  City 
M-ager  and  the  Commis^on  have  offered  salva! 

,:  u  r®'^  ""'y  "'^  "'«=*«'  «nd  these 

are  held  stnctly  responsible,  sometimes  under  Z 

rr  ^^'^  °'  *"*  '^'^  ^°'  *•'«'  -*^  «i-t 

"7^-  ?^"'°'''^-'l-'««-W  adopted 
ntth  "^  "I  '^'''""""'*  ^'^  Commission.  But 
noamuf  has  been  done  to  simplifyourstategovem- 
ments.  which  are  surrounded  by  a  maze  of  hetero- 
geneous  and  undirected  boards  and  authorities 
Every  t.me  the  legislature  found  itself  confrTnl^ 

a  nrHl^'^^i^  *"  ''  '"'^  '"'■ "  "-P'y  '-■'ted 
a  new  board.  New  York  has  a  hodgepodge  of 
over  16  such  authorities;  Minnesota,  ^oi^^ 

Z  111"  '"'  "^^  ™"°'''  '^'^  Minnesota  in 
1914  mdeed.  perfected  elaborate  proposals  for 
snnphfymg  their  state  governments.  But  these 
«Wons  remain  dormant.  And  the  New  York 
State  Constitutional  Convention  in  1915 prepared 
a  new  Constitution  for  the  State,  with  the  same 
nd  m  b„t  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^ 

by  the  people.    It  may  be  said,  however,  that 


160  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
in  our  attempt  to  rid  ourselves  of  boss  rule  we 
have  swung  through  the  an:  of  direct  govern- 
ment and  are  now  on  the  returning  curve  toward 
representative  government,  a  more  intensified 
representative  government  that  makes  evasion  of 
responsiluity  and  duty  impossible  by  fixmg  it 
upon  one  or  two  men. 


[E 

I  rule  we 
t  govern- 
'e  toward 
Dtensified 
vasion  of 
fixiiig  it 


.OVER.--- LET  PS  PREV 


THE  STORM  TO 


■^«.  1871. 


■<^^^^si^h.- 


fill 


j' 


I . 


.( 


I } 


J 

mm 


itiu  TliE  JJuSS  AND  TIU;  MACUINE 
m  our  attempt  to  ri<i  ourii«lv«s  of  bow  rule  w 
have  swung  through  lh<>  arv  of  direct  govert; 
mt:iit  and  ««•  now  on  the  relurniDg  curve  iowm- 
representative  govenimeiil,  a  mure  intcjlaitv:. 
rtpres.ntHtive  governmeut  that  makes  evasion  i 
responsibility  and  duty  imptissiblu  by  fixing 
upon  one  or  two  men. 


•  •  ■jani  gTj  Tai»-".aaNO  -woda"    ■ 

.JT8I  ^1  Mdiml<pg  ,,U»^H  I'-itKpaft  ni  .JmVI  p.aioirr  xd  nooJw  ) 


rule  « 
govef 
towai- 

ixing 


-V:: 


^i 


it 


.T.*r&-" 


V        •  ,1  •  *^ 


5^,;,    4pa 


CHAPTEB  X 


^SUte.  .t  fl«t.  lud  paid  little  .ttention  to  tl« 

W«gat,onofl4e-«i„d,deitW   Evidently^ 

SUte  could  not  dictate  that  you  d«,uld  be  .W 
oc«t  or  .  Hepublicw.  or  fo«e  you  to  be  „  L,. 
d^jendent.  With  the  «loption  of  the  Australia, 
b^ot.  however.  c«ne  the  l.g.1  recognition  7Z 
^r.  for  «  «o„  ..  the  Sute  ,«»gni«d  the 

party  s  d«„gn.ted  nominee,  in  the  p«p«tion  of 
U.e  officii  ballot,  it  recogni^d  the^T^:! 

then  d^covered  that.  unle«  «««  «rtri<Ln.  w« 

"npo«d.  group,  of  intererted  pe«««  in  the  old 
partie.  wodd  manage  the  nomination.  o»,Uth  to 
thmmutua^«t.rfactio«.    llu.ah^KlftdofDem- 

oc^t.wouldvuitBepublicancu««.orprimarie. 
and  a  handful  of  Republic«ui  would  reL,  th^ 

f-vortotheDemocrat..    In  other  word.,  the  bo«e. 
of  both  parties  would  cooperate  in  orfer  to  «cure 
nommations  satirfactory  to  thenuelvefc 
"         1  m 


il- 


ifillii 


IM       THE  B068  AND  THE  lUCHINE 

MMMcfauietta  b«gan  the  reform  by  deining  a 
party  u  a  group  of  penon*  who  had  caat  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  votea  at  the  preceding  dection. 
Thia  definition  hai  been  widely  accepted;  and  the 
number  of  votes  hai  been  variously  fixed  at  from 
two  to  twenty-five  per  cent.  Other  States  have 
followed  the  New  York  plan  of  fixing  definitely 
the  number  of  voters  necessary  to  form  a  party. 
In  New  York  no  fewer  than  10,000  voters  can 
secure  recognition  as  a  state  party,  exception 
being  made  in  favor  of  municipal  or  purely  local 
parties.  But  merely  fixing  the  numerical  mini- 
mum of  the  party  was  not  enough.  The  State 
took  another  step  forward  in  depriving  the  ma- 
nipulator of  his  liberty  when  it  undertook  to 
determine  who  was  entitled  to  membership  in  the 
party  and  privileged  to  take  part  in  its  nomi- 
nations and  other  party  procedure.  Otherwise 
the  virile  minority  in  each  party  would  control 
both  the  membership  and  the  nominations. 

An  Oregon  statute  declares:  "Every  political 
party  and  every  volunteer  political  organization 
has  the  same  right  to  be  protected  from  the 
interference  of  persons  who  are  not  identified 
with  it,  as  its  known  and  publicly  avowed  mem- 
bers, that  the  government  of  the  State  has  to 


d 


PABTY  BEFOBM  ig, 

I»«>toct  itiielf  horn  the  interference  of  penon.  who 
•re  not  known  and  regMteredwitadecton.    Itii 

M  great .  wrong  to  the  people.  „  weU  « to  mem. 
ber.  of  .  pditioal  party,  for  anyone  who  i.  not 
known  to  be  one  of  its  members  to  vote  or  take  any 
PMtrtany  «Uon.  or  other  proceeding,  of  lucJ. 
pohtical  party,  a.  it  i.  for  one  who  i,  not  a  quali- 
fled  and  registered  elector  to  vote  at  any  sUte 
decUon  or  to  take  part  in  the  busineM  of  the 
State.  •  It  i.  a  far  readi  from  the  democratic 
laiunfaire  of  Jadcson's  day  to  this  state  dogma- 
tism whidi  threatens  the  independert  or  detadied 
voter  with  ultimate  extinction 

A  variety  of  methods  have  been  adopted  for 
initiating  the  dtizen  into  party  membewhip.  In 
the  Southern  States,  where  the  dual  party  system 
does  not  exist,  the  legislatuit!  has  left  the  matter 
m  the  hands  of  the  duly  appointed  party  offidab. 
They  can,  with  canomcal  rigor,  determine  the 
party  standing  of  voters  at  the  primaries.  But 
where  there  is  party  competition,  such  a  generous 
endowment  of  power  would  be  dangerous. 

Many  States  permit  the  voter  to  make  his 
dedaration  of  party  allegiance  when  he  goes  to 
the  primary.  He  asks  for  the  ticket  of  the  party 
whose  nominees  he  wishes  to  help  select.    He  is 


(I 


I     ' 


IP 


m 


I 


If* 


IM  THB  BOes  AND  THB  MACHINE 
tha  huded  the  party's  ballot,  which  he  marki 
and  places  fai  the  ballot-bos  of  that  party.  Now, 
If  be  it  ^ailenged,  he  must  declare  upon  oath  that 
he  b  a  member  of  that  party,  that  he  has  generally 
supported  ha  Udcets  and  its  principles,  and  that 
at  the  coming  dection  he  intends  to  support  at 
least  a  majority  of  its  nominees.  In  this  method 
little  freedom  is  left  to  the  voter  who  wiehes  to 
participate  as  an  independent  both  in  the  primaries 
and  in  the  general  election. 

Hie  New  York  plan  is  more  rigorous.  Here, 
in  an  cities,  the  voter  enrolls  his  name  on  his 
party's  lists  when  he  goes  to  register  for  the 
coming  election.  Herecr  .es  a  ballot  upon  which 
are  the  following  words:  "I  am  in  general  sym- 
pathy with  the  principles  of  the  party  whit  h  I 
have  designated  by  my  mark  hereunder;  it  is  my 
intention  to  mtppoti  generally  at  the  next  general 
election,  state  and  national,  the  nominees  of  such 
party  for  state  and  national  offices;  and  I  have 
not  enroled  with  or  participated  in  any  primary 
election  or  convention  of  any  other  party  since 
the  first  day  of  last  year."  On  this  enrollment 
blank  he  indicates  the  party  of  his  choice,  and  the 
election  officials  deposit  all  the  ballots,  after 
sealing  them  in  envelopes,  in  a  special  box.    At 


i  ARTY  REFOBlf  }« 

.  to.  d«ig„.ted  by  I.W.  llu«  .«I.  «  h,^ 

•»««  tha  party  enroBment  i.  compiled  ftom  th«a. 
^  jmrty  ewoMment  book.  «  public  i«cord. 
i!.veiyoiie  who  caw.  may  coittult  the  lirtfc  IT- 
*dv«.t.ge.  of  ««cy-«ch  «  thqr  «-« 
thiu  not  •ecured. 
It  wni^ed  for  Wi«»n«n.  the  experimenting 

whenthevotepgoe.totheprim«y.hel.h«.ded  . 
l««e  bJIot.  upon  which  dl  the  pwty  nomination. 
««pnnted.  ^.e  different  p«ty  ticket.  «  «p. 
^ated  by  perforation,.  «,  that  the  voter  «mX 
te.«  out  the  party  Ucket  he  widie.  to  vote,  mariu 
it.«.dp«Uitinthebo,.  The  ejected  UckeU  he 
J^  m  a  l«ge  warte  badtet  p«.vided  for  the 

While  the  party  wa.  being  fenced  in  by  legal 
defimUon. .t. machineiy,  t',e intricate hierarchyof 
committees  w,  -uLjected  to  rtate  «rutiny  with 
the  avowed  object  o:  ridding  the  party  of  ring 
rule  The  Sute  Central  Committee  i.  the  Z 
tothcMtuation.    To  democratize  thi.  committee 

11  ?t  "^^  "T  *''"*'^  "^"^  *^*  ^°"'ty  of 
vhe  State,  for  the  mventive  capwdty  of  the  p». 
fessional  politiciiin  i.  prodigiou..  He  device  , 
«munvent  the  poIiUcian  are  »  numewu.  auj 


id  i 

'i   I 

:i>l[(  ■ 

m 


m 


lee       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

various  that  only  a  few  types  can  be  selectwl  to 
illustrate  how  the  State  is  canying  out  its  deter- 
inination.    Illinois  has  provided  perhaps  the  most 
democratic  method.    In  each  congressional  dis- 
trict, the  voters,  at  the  regular  party  primaries, 
choose  the  member  of  the  state  committee  for  the 
district,  who  serves  for  a  term  of  two  years.    The 
law  says  that  "no  other  person  or  persons  whom- 
soever" than  those  so  chosen  by  the  voters  shaU 
serve  on  the  committee,  so  that  members  by 
courtesy  or  by  proxy,  who  might  represent  the 
boss,  are  apparently  shut  off.    The  law  stipulates 
the  time  within  which  the  committee  must  meet 
and  organize.     Chder  this  plan,  if  the  ring  con- 
trols the  committee,  the  fault  lies  wholly  with 
the  majority  of  the  party;  it  is  a  self-imposed 
thraldom. 

Iowa  likewise  stipulates  that  the  Central  Com- 
mittee shall  be  composed  of  one  member  from  each 
congressional  district.  But  the  members  are  chosen 
in  a  state  convention,  organized  under  strict  and 
minute  regulations  imposed  by  law.  It  permits  con- 
siderable freedom  to  the  committee,  however,  stat- 
ing that  it  "may  organize  at  pleasure  for  political 
work  as  is  usual  and  customary  with  such  commit- 
tees." 


■M 


PAHTY  REFOBM  i„ 

H«e  the  candidates  for  the  variou,  sute  office, 
-d  for  both  branches  of  the  legislature  and  ^^ 
^enators  whose  tenns  have  not  e:cph^  ^eetl 
the  state  capital  at  noon  on  a  day  specified  hv 
law  and  elect  by  ballot  a  central  comS  eo^ 
-tmg  of  at  least  two  members  from  eltL^ 
-^^d^tnct.  Achairmanischo^^^^ere 
Most  States,  however,  leave  some  leeway  in  the 

choiceofthestatecommittee.permittingthLele; 
tion  usually  by   the  «««,„  prf^^J  J^J^^ 

tilling  their  action  in  many  details.  The  W 
c»mnnttees-«.„nty.city.d.y.e,i„diS]/^ 
^.  congressional,  and  others  -  are  even  more 
ngorously  controlled  by  law 

ret^nthesteteconvention  in  itsoriginal  vigor.  In 
all  States  where  primaries  are  held  for  state  nomi 
nat^  the  emasculate  and  subdued  conviXn 
«  permitted  to  wiite  the  party  platform.    But  not 

date^  and  the  hold-over  members  of  the  Senate 
assembled  according  to  law  in  a  state  meeSn 


it:f' 


188        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
JMue  the  pUttonn.     In  other  States,  the  Central 
Committee  and  the  various  candidates  for  sute 
^ce  form  a  party  council  and  frame  the  platform 
Oregon,  in  1901,  tried  a  novel  method  of  providing 
platform,  by  referendum.    But  the  courts  declared 
th"  law  unconstitutional.    So  Oregon  now  permits 
c     a  candidate  to  write  his  own  platform  in  not 
over  one  hundred  words  and  file  it  with  his  nom- 
inating petition,    and    to    present    a   statement 
of  not  over  twelve  words  to  be  pri,  .d  on  the 
ballot. 

The  convention  system  provided  many  opportu- 
nities for  the  manipulator  and  was  inherently 
imperfect  for  nomiiating  more  than  one  or  two  can- 
didates for  office.    It  has  survived  as  the  method 
of  nominating  candidates  for  President  of  the 
Umted  States  because  it  is  adapted  to  the  wide 
geographical  range  of  the  nation  and  because  in  the 
naUonal  convention  only  a  President  and  a  Vice- 
President  are  nominated.  In  state  and  county  con- 
ventions, where  often  candidates  for  a  dozen  or 
more  offices  are  to  be  nominated,  it  was  often 
subject  to  demoralizing  bartering. 

The  laiger  the  number  of  nominations  to  be 
made,  the  more  complete  was  the  jobbeiy.  and 
this  was  the  death-warrantof  the  local  convention 


PARTY  REFORM  jj^ 

SihL  oTth  '''^".  ■"  "•'"'■^  -  J--''^  «  ^e 
t^  B  Ki^  """°"*y'  "'  "t  J««t  a  plurality  of 
the  Republican  voters;  and  ^ 

d.S^  ^*  '?'''"°*  'y^**""  °^  nominating  by 
del^ates,  who  yirtually  .^present  territoo'  "fther 
than  yotes,  and  who  almost  necessarily  arTwhdlv 
^«^uamted  with  the  wishes  and  feelin^offi 
~nst.tuents  m  «gard  to  various  candWates  for 
office.  «  undemoc«tic.  because  the  people  We 
no  voace  m  ,t  and  objectionable,  because  men  aL 
often  placed  m  nomination  because  of  theTrL^ 
tion  who  are  decidedly  unpopular  ev™  i„  t^ 
own  districts  and  becfu^  ft  SsTrglf  :L' 

Sr.etluUon     '  ™  '^"''^'^  '^'^^  ^«  ^P-t  ot 


R' 


J 


;ir 


?, 


!|. 


170       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

Upon  the  ba,is  of  thia  indictment  of  the  county 
conv^tion  system,  the  Republican  voten,  of  Craw 

tl  T'^'/.r'^  community,  whose  largest 
town  «  MeadvJle.  the  county  seat,  pn^eeded  to 
nommate  their  candidates  by  direct  vote,  under 
ru  es  prepared  by  the  county  committee.  Ttese 
rules  have  been  but  slightly  changed.  The  infor- 
mahty  of  a  hat  or  open  table  drawer  has  been  re- 
placed by  an  official  ballot-box.  and  an  official  bal- 

I'rantr^'^"^^^^^-^-™-^^^^ 

mLifl'  "•l"'''''*^^  "y  v«ious  localities  in 
many  SWes.    L,  1866  Califonua  and  New  York 
enacted  laws  to  protect  primaries  and  norainating 
caucuses  from  fraud.    In  1871  OUo  and  Pern. 
«ylvan>a  enacted  similar  laws.  foUowed  by  Mis- 
.our.  m  1875  and  New  Je«cy  in  1878.    By  So 
over  a  dozen  States  had  passed  laws  atte^pti^ 
to  elmamate  the  g^sser  frauds  attendant  upoT 
matmg  nominations.    In  many  instances  it  Tas 
made  opfonal  with  the  party  whether  the  direct 
plan  should  supersede  the  delegate  plan.     Only 
m  oertam  cUies.  however,  was  the  primary  made 
•nandatory  m  these  States.    By  far  the  larger 
areas  retamed  the  convention. 


PARTY  REPOHSf  „, 

There  is  noticeable  in  these  ye«,  a  »r«i„al 

the  no«^.tn,g  machinery  -  prescribing  the  day! 

Z  1       P^^^-P'-^  the  natu«  of  the  ballot- 
bo.,  the  poll. list,  who  might  participate  in  the 
d-o^ee  of  delegates,  how  the  «tun>s  w«e  toTI 
made,  and  so  on.    By  the  time.  then,  that  the 
Aus  ralian  ballot  came,  with  its  profound  chang^ 
n^y  all  the  States  had  attempted  toZ^ol^ 
the  glarmg  abuses  of  the  nprninating  system-  and 
-end  of  them  officially  recogn^  "^Tii^ 
pnmary.    lie  State  was  reluct«.t  to  aboli^^ 
~nvent,on  system  enti«>ly;  «.d  the  C«.wford 
Countyplanlongremainedmerelyoptional.    But 
m  1901  Mmnesou  enacted  a  sUte-wide.  manda- 
tory pnmary  law.    Mississippi  followed  in  190*' 

W«consm.nl903.andOregoninl904.  llismove- 
ment  has  swept  the  countiy. 

Few  Stot«,  ^^  the  nominating  convention 
•^d  where  it  ««nains  it  is  shackS  by  l^al"^ 
^efons.    The  boss,  howe^,  ^  .J^J^^l 

toam^Z  ""'"''"^^'^'^'''^-'J^-turn 
toam,^,fied convention  system  is  being  earnestly 
discussed  -  -any  Sutes  toci«.umvenT?hef^J 
ingenuity  of  the  boss.  ^^ 


Uii 


M 


"«       THE  BOOS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
A  further  .tep  toward,  the  .tete  control  of 

parties  w«  taken  when  law.  Kegan  to  bu,y  them- 
-lvesw.ththeoonductofthecan.paign.  Comipt 
Practices  Acts  began  to  aasume  bulk  in  the  early 

nineties,  to  limit  the  expenditure  of  candidates,  and 
to  enumerate  the  object,  for  which  campaign  com- 
mittee, might  legitimately  .pend  money.    The.e 
ai^  usually  per^jnal  traveling  expend*,  of  the  can- 
didate., renta'  of  room,  for  committee,  and  hall, 
for  meeting.,  payment  of  musician,  and  .peakers 
and  their  traveling  expen«».  prfnUng  campaign 
matenal,  po.tage  for  distribution  of  letter.,  newt 
papers  and  printed  matter,  telephone  and  telegraph 
charges  political  advertising,  employing  chaUeng- 
ers  at  the  polls.  nece«.a,y  clerk  hire,  and  conZ- 
ances  for  bringing  aged  or  infirm  voter,  to  the 
polls.    The  maximum  amount  that  can  be  spent 
by  candidate,  i.  fi.ed,  and  they  are  requi  Jto 
make  under  oath  a  detailed  statement  of  their  ex- 
penses ,n  both  primary  and  general  elections.     The 
various  committees,  al«,,  mu.t  make  detailed  re- 
porU  of  the  fund,  they  handle,  the  amount,  the 
contr.but„«.  and  the  expenditure..    Conniptions 
are  forbidden  to  contribute,  and  the  amount  that 
candidates  themselves  may  give  is  limited  in  many 
Mates.     These  exaction,  are  reinforx^l  by  strin- 


PARTY  REFORM  ,73 

jntUw,ag^t  bribery.    PenK.n»  found  gdlty 
^ther  rece. vu«  or  soUdUug  a  bribe  are  gene^y 

^randu^  or  decided  ineligibleforpubl^ooffi; 

orateimofyear,.    Dlmois.  for  the  second  offe  J 

forever  disfranchises.  ""onense. 

iJlZ  r/7™'*  ««t  these  restrictions  have 

notttself  bear  «..ne  of  the  expense  of  the  can.- 

«o™„      K^'  °    ~'"^'  "''^'^y  '«^'«»«d  an 
-mous  burden   omjerly  borne  en«.,y  by  the 

P«rty_  The  cost  of  primao' and  general  elections 
n^aday,.3treo.endous.  A  few  Western  Stat" 
pnnt  a  can,pa«n  panipUet  and  distribute  it  to 
eveo.  voter.  The  pan.pUet  contains  usu^th^ 
photographs  of  the  candidates,  a  brief  biogrrpV 
and  a  statement  of  principles.  ^' 

These  are  the  principal  encroachments  made  by 
the  Government  upon  the  autonomy  of  the  party 
^ne  details  are  endless     Tl,<.,.i~.f      1  t""^J'- 

York  fill  ssn      ■^'    The  election  laws  of  New 

alt  Amen       "  ""*"■     '* "  «*"«  --<J- 

tHat  American  parUes  are  beginning  to  study  the 

27-t.onofEu«,peanparties.su'h  asthefabo 
parties  and  the  social  democratic  parties,  whil 
Weenlisted.ratherferventpartyfealty.     S^ 
-  propagandist  parties  and  require  to'be  act^ 
all  the  year  round.    So  they  demand  amiual  due 


174       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

of  their  members  and  Uve  permwent  saUried 
offieiali  and  official  party  oigM..   Such  a  perma- 
nrat  oigani«ation  wa«  suggested  for  the  National 
ft«««s««Ve  party.    But  the  early  disintegration 
of  the  party  made  impossible  what  would  have  been 
an  mteresting  experiment    After  the  election  of 
1M«.  Governor  Whitman  of  New  York  suggested 
that  the  EepubKcan  party  choose  a  manager  and 
pay  him  $10,000  a  year  and  have  a  lien  on  all  his 
time  and  eneigy.    He  pl«,  was  widely  discussed 
and  Its  severest  critics  were  the  politicians  who 
would  suffer  from  it.    The  wide-spread  comment 
with  which  it  was  received  revealed  the  change  that 
has  come  over  the  popular  idea  of  a  political  party 
smce  the  State  began  forty  years  ago  to  bring  the 
party    jider  its  control. 

But  flexibility  is  absolutely  essential  to  a  party 
system  that  adequately  serves  a  growing  democ- 
racy  And  mider  z  two-party  system,  as  ours  is 
probably  bound  to  remain,  the  independent  voter 
usually  holds  the  balance  of  power.  He  may  be 
merely  a  disgruntled  voter  seeking  for  revenge 
or  an  overpleased  voter  seeking  to  maintain  a 
profitable  status  quo.  or  he  may  belong  to  that 
class  of  super-citizens  from  which  mugwumps  arise 
In  any  case,  the  majorities  at  elections  are  usually 


PAETY  BEFOBM  ,„ 

»«r  the  other     ^-  ^'"^"  "hither  the  one 

cleaning.    The  PhiUA  i  u-     J,    """"Vn  nouae- 

prosecuUon  of  "tho*,  who  We  C^'^u  ^^^ 
election  f«tuds.  maladnunistn^JILf^fflr  "^  "' 
appropriationofpubh-cfunds  "    A  :°''°"- 

it  would  endo  Jonly  ILt  ^"""*='"«f  ''"•^ 
dedaration,  the  ZLh  "^^  *«"*^  ''^ 

Taxe3aca„d1dS„^t7^'-*«^'-K-eiverof 
Democratic  no^t^  rhrS;''° 'rr^  •»«>  the 

candidate  withd^w       :^flLTJ" '''"""    ^'^ 

wa.  powerful  e!o„gLToel^h?D"""'""''^ 
didate  for  mayor  !  el  tl-  I     "''^"*''''^- 


Ill 


ir«       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  UACHINK 

Thii  gave  the  Committee  •!«»•  to  the  wwwd*  of 
the  doings  of  the  Gm  Ring.  In  1884,  however, 
the  condidaU  which  it  endoned  ww  defeated,  ud 
it  disbanded. 

Similar  in  experience  was  the  famous  New 
York  Committee  of  Seventy,  oiganised  in  1894 
after  Dr.  Parkhurst's  lurid  disclosures  of  poUoe 
comuvance  with  every  degrading  vice.    A  call  was 
issued  by  thirty-three  weM-known  citizens  for  a 
non-partizan  mass  meeting,  and  at  this  meeting 
a  committee  of  seventy  was  appointed  "with  full 
power  to  confer  with  other  anU-Tammany  oigani- 
aations.  and  to  take  such  acUons  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  further  the  objecte  of  this  meeting  as  set 
forth  in  the  call  therefor,  and  the  address  adopted 
by  this  meeting. "    The  committee  adopted  a  plat- 
fOiTi,  appointed  an  execuUve  and  a  finance  com- 
mittee, and  nominated  a  f  uU  ticket,  distributing 
the  candidates  among  both  parUes.    Allotheranti- 
Tammany  organizations  endoned  this  ticket,  and 
it  was  elected  by  large  majorities.    The  committee 
dissolved   after   having  secured  certain  charter 
amendments  for  the  city  and  seeing  its  roster  of 
officers  inaugurated. 

ITie  Municipal  Voters'  League  of  Chicago  is 
an  important  example  of  the  permanent  type  of 


''it 


PAHTY  REFORM  ,„ 

AtA.i    t  "»"«Ti,  KTUtmiM  evenr  can- 

dKkte  for  cty  office  f«m  the  Mayor  doX.  ft 
doe.  not  am  to  nominate  .  Udcet  of  if  own. 
^t  to  exerc.«,  such  vigilance,  enfo«*d  by  «, 
effective  an  o.«a„i«Uon  and  .uch  wide-re«Lg 
pubhcUy,  that  the  variou.  parties  will.  ^ZJ 
own  vohfon.  nominate  men  whom  the  league 

Z^^7'  "^  li-"  P"**^  -  the  hydZie 
prewure  of  organized  public  opinion,  it  ha.  had  a 
con«derable  influence  on  the  partie.  and  a  verv 
rtimnkting  effect  on  the  citizenry  ^ 

Fmally.  there  ha.  developed  in  recent  year. 
Ae  fu«on  movement,  whereby  the  opponent,  of 
bo«  rule  m  all  partie.  unite  and  back  an  indepen- 
d«»t  or  municipal  ticket.    The  election  of  Mayor 

Pl«hed.  InMflwa„kee.Hfuaionha.beensucce«- 
ful  agamst  the  Sodalirt..  And  in  many  le»er 
ati«.  this  has  brought  at  least  temporary  «lief 
from  tiie  oppression  of  the  local  oligarchy. 


CHAPTER  XI 


Tax  XXFKST  AT  LAST 

Thb  adminutntive  weakneH  of  a  democracy, 
namely,  the  tendency  towards  a  government  by 
job-hunters,  was  disclosed  even  in  the  early  days 
of  the  United  States,  when  the  o£Bcial  machinery 
was  simple  and  ,the  number  of  offices  few.  Wash- 
ington at  once  foresaw  both  the  difficulties  and 
the  duties  that  the  appointing  power  imposed. 
Soon  after  his  inauguration  he  wrote  to  Rutledge: 
"I  a-  C  Jpate  tiiat  one  of  the  most  difficult  and 
delicate  parts  of  the  duty  of  any  office  will  be  that 
which  relates  to  nominations  for  appointments." 
And  he  was  most  scrupulous  and  painstaking  in 
his  appointments.  Fitness  for  duty  was  paramount 
with  him,  though  he  recognized  geographical  ne- 
cessity and  distributed  the  offices  with  that  preci- 
sion which  characterized  all  his  acts. 

John   Adams   made   very   few   appointments. 
After  his  term  had  expired,  he  wrote:  "Washington 

178 


THE  EXPERT  AT  LAST  m 

•nMintod  »  muJUtude  of  DemocraU  uid  Jaeobiiu 
of  the  deepcrt  die.  I  have  been  more  cMitioiu  in 
thianepeet" 

The  tert  of  putiun  loyally,  however,  wu  not 
4>plied  generally  until  after  the  election  of  Jvttcr- 
mm.    The  ludicrous  apprehenn'ons  of  the  Federal- 
irt«  ai  to  what  would  follow  upon  his  election 
were  not  allayed  by  his  declared  intentions.    "I 
have  given,"  he  wrote  to  Monroe,  "and   will 
give  only  to  Republicans  under  existing  circum- 
stances."    Jefferson  was  too  good  a  politician  to 
overtook  his  opportunity  to  annihilate  the  Feder- 
alisto.    He  hoped  to  absorb  them  in  his  own  party, 
"to  unite  the  names  of  Federalists  and  Republi- 
cans."    Moderate    Federalists,    who    possessed 
sufficient  gifts  of  grace  for  conversion,  he  sedu- 
lously nr.r?.td.    But  he  removed  all  officers  for 
whose  removal  any  special  reason  could  be  dis- 
covered.   The  "midnight  appointments  "  of  John 
Adams  he  refused  to  acknowledge,  and  he  paid  no 
heed  to  John  Marshall's  dicta  in  Marbury  vertua 
Madison.    He  was  zealous  in  discovering  plausible 
excuses  for  making  vacancies.    The  New  York 
Evening  Post  described  him  as  "gazing  round, 
with  wild  anxiety  furiously  inquiring,  'how  are 
vacancies  to  be  obtained?'" 


k>-i., 


ii: 


■!  . 
I*  I 


':il 


.•!  '  1 


km^l: 


iK' 


180        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

Directly  and  indirecUy,  Jefferson  effected,  dui^ 
ing  his  first  term,  164  changes  in  the  offices  at  his 
disposal,  a  large  number  for  those  days.  This 
he  did  so  craftily,  with  such  delicate  regard  foi 
geographical  sensitiveness  and  with  such  a  nice 
balance  between  fitness  for  office  and  the  desire 
for  office,  that  by  the  end  of  his  second  term  he 
had  not  only  consolidated  our  first  disciplined  and 
eager  political  party,  but  had  quieted  the  storm 
against  his  policy  of  partizan  proscription. 

During   the  long  r^ime   of  the  Jeffersom'an 
Republicans  there  were  three  significant  move- 
ments.    In    January.    18H,    Nathaniel    Macon 
introduced  his  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
providing  that  no  member  of  Congress  should 
receive  a  civil  appointment  "under  the  authority 
of  the  United  States  until  the  expiration  of  tile 
presidential  term  in  which  such  person  shall  have 
senred  as  senator  or  representative. "    An  amend- 
ment  was    offered   by   Josiah    Quincy.    making 
ineligible  to  appointinent  the  relations  by  blood 
or  marriage  of  any   senator  or  representative. 
Nepotism  was  considered  the  curse  of  the  civil 
service,  and  for  twenty  years  similar  amendments 
were  discussed  at  almost  every  session  of  Congress. 
John  Quincy  Adams  said  tiiat  half  of  the  members 


THE  EXPERT  AT  LAST  181 

wanted  office,  and  the  other  half  wanted  office 
for  their  relatives. 

In  1880  the  Four  Years' Act  substituted  a  four- 
,    ar  tenure  of  office,  in  place  of  a  term  at  the 
i-leasure  of  the  President,  for  most  of  the  federal 
appointments.    The  principal  argument  urged  in 
favor  of  the  law  was  that  unsatisfactory  civil 
servants  could  easfly  be  dropped  without  reflection 
on  their  character.    Defalcations  had  been  dis- 
covered to  the  amount  of  nearly  a  million  dollars, 
due  mainly  to  carelessness  and  gross  inefficiency. 
It  was  further  argued  that  anj  efficient  incumbent 
need   not   be   disquieted,  for   he  would    be  re- 
appointed.  The  law,  however,  fulfilled  Jefferson's 
prophecy:  it  kept  "in  constant  excitement  all  the 
hungry  cormorants  for  office. " 

What  Jefferson  began,  Jackson  consummated. 
The  stage  was  now  set  for  Democracy.  Public 
office  had  been  marshaled  as  a  force  in  party 
maneuver.  In  his  first  annual  message,  Jackson 
announced  his  philosophy: 


There  are  perhaps  few  men  who  can  for  any  great 
length  of  time  enjoy  office  and  power  without  being 
more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  feelings  unfavor- 
aWetothefaithfuldiachargeoftheirpublicduties.     . 
Office  18  considered  as  a  species  of  property,  and  gov- 


188        THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

ernment  rather  as  a  means  of  promoting  individual 
interests  than  as  an  instrument  created  solely  for  the 
service  of  the  people,  Corruption  in  some,  and  in 
others  a  perversion  of  correct  feelings  and  principles, 
divert  government  from  its  legitimate  ends  and  make  it 
an  engine  for  the  support  of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the 
many.  The  duties  of  all  public  oflBces  are,  or  at  least 
admit  of  being  made,  so  plain,  so  simple  that  men  of  in- 
telligence may  readily  qualify  themselves  for  their  per- 
formance. .  .  .  In  a  countiywhere  offices  are  created 
solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  no  one  man  has  any 
more  intrinsic  right  to  official  station  than  another. 


mm; 


hm 


The  Senate  refused  Jackson's  request  for  an 
extension  of  the'  Pour  Years'  law  to  cover  all 
positions  in  the  civil  service.  It  also  refused  to 
confirm  some  of  his  appointments,  notably  that  of 
Van  Buren  as  minister  to  Great  Britain.  The 
debate  upon  this  appointment  gave  the  spoilsman 
an  epigram.  Clay  with  directness  pointed  to  Van 
Buren  as  the  introducer  "of  the  odio'is  system 
of  proscription  for  the  exercise  of  the  elective 
franchise  in  the  government  of  the  Unitetl  States. " 
He  continued:  "I  understand  it  is  the  system  on 
which  the  party  in  his  own  State,  of  which  he  is 
the  reputed  head,  constantly  acts.  He  was  among 
the  first  of  the  secretaries  to  apply  that  system 
to  the  dismission  of  clerks  of  his  department 


THE  EXPERT  AT  LAST  188 

known  to  me  to  be  higUy  meritorious  ...    It  is 
a  detestable  system." 

And  Webster  thundered:  "I  pronounce  my  re- 
buke as  solemnly  and  as  decisively  as  I  can  upon 
this  first  instance  in  which  an  American  minister 
has  been  sent  abroad  as  the  representative  of 
his  party  and  not  as  the  representative  of  his 
country. " 

To  these  and  other  challenges.  Senator  Marcy 
of  New  York  made  his  well-remembered  retort 
that  "the  politicians  of  the  United  States  are  not 

so  fastidious They  see  nothing  wrong  in  the 

rule  that  to  the  victor  belong  the  spoils  nf  the 
enemy. " 

Jackson,  with  all  his  bins'  ;r  and  the  noise  of  Us 
followers,  made  his  proscriptions  relatively  fewer 
than  those  of  Jefferson.  He  removed  only  2.52 
of  about  612  presidential  appointees. '  It  should, 
however,  be  remembered  that  those  who  were 
not  removed  had  assured  Jackson's  agents  of  their 
loyalty  to  the  new  Democracy. 

If  Jackson  did  not  inaugurate  the  spoils  system, 
he  at  least  gave  it  a  mission.  It  was  to  save  the 
country  from  the  curse  of  officialdom.     His  suc- 

■ITii.  doe.  not  include  aeputy  po.tiiia.ten,  who  numbered  about 
SOW  and  were  not  placed  in  tlie  piwidential  lirt  until  1886. 


I 


184  THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 
cessor.  Van  Buren.  brought  the  system  to  a  perfec- 
tion that  only  the  experienced  politician  could 
achieve.  Van  Buren  requiied  of  aU  appointees 
partiaan  service;  and  Ws  own  nomination,  at 
Baltimore,  was  made  a  foregone  conclusion  by  the 
host  of  federal  job-holders  who  were  delegates. 
Van  Buren  simply  introduced  at  Washington  the 
methods  of  the  Albany  Regency. 

The  Whigs  blustered  bravely  against  this 
proscripUon.  But  their  own  President.  General 
Harrison.  "Old  Tippecanoe."  was  helpless  against 
the  saturnalia  of  office-seekers  that  engulfed  him. 
Harrison,  when  he  came  to  power,  removed  about 
one-half  of  the  officials  in  the  service.  And.  al- 
though the  partizan  color  of  the  President  changed 
with  Harrison's  death,  after  a  few  weeks  in  office, 
—  Tyler  was  merely  a  Whig  of  convenience  —  there 
was  no  change  in  the  President's  attitude  towards 
the  spoils  system. 

Presidential  inaugurations  became  orgies  of 
office-seekers,  and  the  first  weeks  of  every  new 
term  were  given  over  to  distributing  the  jobs, 
ordinary  busmess  having  to  wait.  President  Polk, 
who  removed  the  usual  quota,  is  complimented  by 
Webster  for  making  "rather  good  selections  from 
his  own  friends."    The  practice,  now  firmly  es- 


•  ■     1 


THE  EXPERT  AT  LAST  184 

tablkhed,  was  continued  by  Taylor,  Pierce,  and 
Bucfaamui. 

Lincoln  found  himself  surrounded  by  drcum- 
stances  that  made  caution  necessary  in  every 
appointment.    His  party  was  new  and  composed 
of  many  diverse  elements.    He  had  to  transform 
their  jealousies  into  enthusiasm,  for  the  approach 
of  civil  war  demanded  supreme  loyalty  and  unity 
of  action.    To  this  greater  cause  of  saving  the 
Union  he  beat  every  effort  and  used  every  instru- 
mentality at  his  command.    No  one  before  him 
had  made  so  complete  a  change  in  the  ofBciai 
personnel  of  the  capital  as  the  change  which  he 
was  constrained  to  make.    No  one  before  hun  or 
since  used  the  appointing  power  with  such  consum- 
mate skill  or  displayed  such  rare  tact  and  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  m  seeking  the  advice  of 
those  who  deemed  their  advice  valuable.    The  war 
greatly  increased   the  number  of  appointments, 
and  it  also  imposed  obligations  that  made  merit 
sometimes  a  secondary  :onsideration.    With  the 
statesman's  vision.  Lincoln  recognized  both  the 
use  and  the  abuse  of  the  patronage  system.    He 
declined  to  gratify  the  office-seekers  who  thronged 
the  capital  at  the  beginning  of  his  second  term ;  and 
they  returned  home  disappointed. 


186       THE  BOSS  AND  THE  MACHINE 

The  twenty  years  foUowing  the  CivO  War  were 
years  of  agiUUon  for  reform.  People  were  at 
last  recognizing  the  foUy  of  using  the  multiplying 
public  offices  for  party  spoils.  The  quarrel  be- 
tween Congress  and  President  Johnson  over  re- 
movals, and  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act,  focused 
popular  attention  on  the  constitutional  question 
of  appointment  and  removal,  and  the  recklessness 
of  the  political  manager  during  Grant's  two  terms 
disgusted  the  thoughtful  citizen. 

The  first  attempts  to  apply  efficiency  to  the  dvil 
service  had  been  made  when  pass  examLutions 
were  used  for  silting  candidates  for  clerkships  in 
the  Treasury  Department  in  1853,  when  such  tests 
were  prescribed  by  law  for  the  lowest  grade  of 
clerkships.  The  head  of  the  department  was  given 
complete  control  over  the  examinations,  and  they 
were  not  exacting.  In  1864  Senator  Sumner  in- 
troduced a  bill  "to  provide  for  the  greater  efficiency 
of  the  civil  service. "  It  was  considered  chimerical 
and  dropped. 

Meanwhile,  a  steadfast  and  able  champion  of 
reform  appeared  in  the  House.  Thomas  A.  Jenckes. 
a  prominent  lawyer  of  Rhode  Island.  A  bill 
wWch  he  introduced  in  December,  1865,  received 
no  hearing.    But  in  the  foUowing  year  a  select 


THE  EXPERT  AT  LAST  187 

joint  committee  was  charged  to  examine  the  whole 
question  of  oppointmenta.  dismissals,  and  patron- 
age.   Mr.  Jenckes  presented  an  elaborate  report 
in  May.  1868,  explaining  the  civil  service  of  other 
countries.    This  report,  which  is  the  comer  stone 
of  American  civil  service  reform,  provided  the 
material  for  congressional  debate  and  threw  the 
whole  subject  into  the  public  arena.    Jenckes  in 
the  House  and  Carl  Schurz  in  the  Senate  saw  to 
it  that  ardent  and  convincing  defense  of  reform 
was  not  wanting.      In  compliance  with  President 
Grant's  request  for  a  law  to  "govern  not  the 
tenure,  but  the  manner  of  making  all  appoint- 
ments, "  a  rider  was  attached  to  the  appropriation 
bin  in  1870,  asking  the  President  "to  prescribe 
such  rules  and  regulations"  as  he  saw  fit,  and  "to 
employ  suitable  persons  to  conduct"  inquiries 
into  the  best  method  for  admitting  persons  into 
the  civil  service.    A  commission  of  which  George 
William  Curtis  was  chairman  made  recommen- 
dations, but  they  were  not  adopted  and  Curtis 
resigned.    The  New  York  Civil  Service  Reform 
Association  was  organized  in  1877;  and  the  Na- 
tional League,  organized  in  1881,  soon  had  flourish- 
ing branches  in  most  of  the  large  cities.     The  battle 
was  largely  between  the  President  and  Congress. 


I 


188       THE  BOSS  AND  THB  MACHINE 

Each  lucoeediag  Preaident  ngnified  hia  adheraioe 
to  reform,  but  neutraond  liit  word*  by  sanction- 
ing  vart  changes  in  the  aervice.  FinaUjr,  under 
cireunutances  abready  described,  on  January  Ifl, 
1883.  the  Civfl  Service  Act  was  passed. 

This  law  had  a  stimulating  effect  upon  stite 
and  mwucipal  civil  service.    New  York  passed  a 
law  the  same  year,  patterned  after  the  federal 
act.    Massachusetts  foUowed  in  1884.  and  within 
a  few  years  many  of  the  Sutes  had  adopted  some 
sort  of  civil  service  reform,  and  the  large  cities 
were  experimenting  with  the  merit  system.    It 
was  not.  however,  until  tiie  rapid  expansion  <rf  the 
functions  of  government  and  tiie  consequent  trans- 
formation in  the  nature  of  public  duties  tiiat  civil 
service  reform  made  noUble  headway.    When  the 
Government  assumed  the  duties  of  health  oflSoer, 
forester,  statistician,  and  numerous  other  highly 
specialized  functions,  the  presence  of  tiie  scientific 
expert  became  imperative;  and  vast  undertakings, 
like  Uie  buflding  of  tiie  Panama  Canal  and  tiie 
enormous  irrigition  projecU  of  tiie  West,  could  not 
be  entrusted  to  tiie  spoilsman  and  his  minions. 

The  war  has  accustomed  us  to  the  commandeer- 
ing of  utilities,  of  science,  and  of  skill  upon  a  colos- 
sal scale.    From  tills  height  of  pubUc  devotion  it  is 


THE  EXPEBT  AT  LAST  ug 

imprchMt  Uut  we  .hdl  decline,  irfter  the  national 
peni  hu  iNwed,  into  the  depth*  of  adniini.tnitive 
inoompetenqr  which  our  Republic,  and  all  ita 
part^  occupied  for  so  many  years.  The  need  for 
an  efficient  and  highly  complex  State  ha.  been 
driven  home  to  the  con«ciou»neM  of  the  average 
citisen.  Andthisforetokenathepennanentenlist- 
ment  <rf  talent  in  the  public  lervice  to  the  end  that 
democracy  may  provide  that  effective  nationalism 
miposed  by  tiie  new  era  of  world  competition. 


'<J 


BIBUOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Tmm  b  no  ooUected  m.terU  of  the  lito^tuw  of 
^»«i«.    It",  found  m  the  official  «port.  of  mverti. 
^g  commute..  ,uch  „  the  Lexow.  Maxet.  «.d 
Wt  commitUe.  in  New  York.  «,d  the  «port  on 
c«npa.gn  contnbution.  by  the  Senate  ComXe  on 
^t7i^   «d  Election,  (1913).    The  muckraker  ha. 
acattered  such  indiKriminate  chaige.  that  great  cau- 
t^on  «  necessaor  to  di«=over  the  truth.    (Sty  te.ti- 
mony  taken  under  oath  can  be  reUed  upon.    And  for 
lo«d  expoa^.  the  official  court  «cord.  mC  betugS 
The  annual  proceeding,  of  the  National  MunicLl 
league  contM.  a  great  deal  of  u«rful  nuiterial  ^ 

r.f  ^  ^"'  ^°*  ^'™«"  »'  Municipal  RewuS 

are  the  reports  of  occasional  bodies  like  the  Phila- 
delphia Committee  of  Fifty. 

On  Municipal  Conditions: 

(1»1S).   An  authontative  and  concise  account  of  the 
MI 


II 

'i  \^' 

»^'  !■ 

It 


IM  BIBUOGSAFHICAL  NOTE 

tkvelopiiMiit  r*  \iiiericu  dtjr  lovHiiiiMiit.  duntor 
VII  dedi  with  mnaidiwl  poUtiei, 

J.  J.  HAimaoK,  Dtlknmtmtnt  cf  Uu  Cii^  Bo$$  (WW). 
A  dctcH-'*  -:  of  the  oparatiaii  of  ~».».itfittn  gov- 
orninc&t* 

E.  8.  BmAorcMD.  CcmmMon  Oommmma  in  Amtriem 
CiHu(\ni).    AcaKfulftudyofthecoiBiiilMioni^. 

H.  BaciRB,  Ntw  Ci^  OotmrmmU  (WW).  An 
inteteiting  mcooimt  of  the  new  municiiMl  tigmt. 

Lincoln  Stutfcns,  Tk$  Skawu  (^  Ou  CUiu  and  Tkt 
StruggU  for  Stif-Oonrumtia  (IMW).  The  Prince  of 
the  Mucknken'  contributiaa  to  the  HteimtuM  of 
•wakening. 

On  Stete  Conditiou: 

There  ia  an  opprenive  bancnneai  of  material  on  thii 
subject. 

P.  S.  RisiNBCH.  American  LtgiJalure$  and  LtgitlatiM 
Melhodi  (1907).  A  brilliattt  eipoaition  of  the  legia- 
laturei'  activitie*. 

E.  L.  GoDUN,  Vnfonum  Tendmeiet  in  Dmoeraey 
contahu  a  thoughtful  enay  on  "The  Decline  of  Lesis- 
laturee."  ^^ 

On  Political  Partiei  and  Madiinei: 

M.  OsTBOooRSKi,  Democracy  and  the  OtymiaaHon  o/ 
PolUi4>al  ParHei,  2  vols.  (1008).  The  ncond  volume 
containa  a  comprehensive  and  able  survey  of  the 
American  party  qrstem.  It  has  been  abridged  mto  a 
single  volume  edition  called  Democracy  and  tke  Parly 
Syitem  in  the  United  States  (1010). 

Jaiob  Bbtce,  The  American  Commottueallk,  ft  vols. 


BttUOGRAraiCAL  NOTE  193 

ni^  ^"^^  JT"^  Organtiatian  and  Machinery 

rrfe«nce5  to  cumnt  literature  on  political  .ubj^ 

Yo:.CH.iTatr'I^f  ^^«'^-     ^^- 
Geobgjc  V1CKER8,  rA«  /-a//  o/io^Wm  (1883).    On 
the  overthrow  of  the  PhUadelphia  Gas  RinR 

1e    r    rP'    ^''^'~°J' on  the  subject 

Historical: 

i;  iT  J      ,     °'  *•"*  ^''"*  "^^  ""^of  the  best  account 
of  the  development  of  American  politics  '"""""ts 

can  ro/.hoa/  ff^rf^  2  vols.  (1905).    A  brilC  IS1 
Utr^T'"^-"-    ^'"--t^tisfactoXl! 


184  BIBUOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

W.  M.  Sloane,  Party  OmemmerU  in  tht  United 
SbUn  (1814).  A  concise  and  convenient  recital. 
Brings  our  party  history  to  date. 

J.  B.  McMaster,  With  the  FnUim  (1896).  A  vol- 
ume of  delightful  historical  essays,  including  one  on 
"The  Political  Depravity  of  the  Fathers." 

On  Nominations: 

F.  W.  Dalunqeb,  Nominationa  for  EUctite  Office  in 
the  United  States  (1897).  The  most  thorough  work 
on  the  subject,  describing  the  development  of  our 
nominating  systems. 

C.  E.  Mermam,  Primary  Electimu  (1908).  A  con- 
cise description  of  the  primary  and  its  history. 

R.  S.  CniLDS,  Short  Ballot  Principles  (1911).  A 
splendid  account  by  the  father  of  the  short  ballot 
movement. 

C.  E.  Meteb,  Nominating  Systems  (190S).  Good 
on  the  caucus. 

On  the  Presidency: 

J.  B.  Bishop,  Our  Politico'  Drama  (1904).  A 
readable  account  of  national  conventions  and  presi- 
dential campaigns. 

A.  K.  McClube,  Our  Presidents  and  How  We  Make 
Them  (190.S). 

Edward  Stanwood,  A  History  of  the  Presidency 
(1898).  Gives  party  platforms  and  describes  each 
presidential  campaign. 

On  G>ngress: 

G.  H.  Hatnes,  The  Election  of  United  States  Senator 
(1906). 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  m 

f,f,'J'  ^°?'  '"*'  ^"^  "^  °"''  ^'^^'^  Oovenmmt 
U»io;.  A  fine  account  of  congressional  bad  house- 
keeping. 

Mabt  C.  Follett,  TheSpeakerqftheBouseoflUpre. 
lentalivet  (1896).  "^ 

WooDROw  Wilson,  Congre^ional  Government  (ISM) 
Most  interesting  reading  in  the  light  of  the  Wilson 
Administration. 

L.  G.  McCoNAt  niB,  Congratsional  Committeet  (1898). 

On  Special  Topics: 

C.  R.  Pish,  Civil  Service  and  the  Patronage  (1905) 
Ihe  best  work  on  the  subject. 

J.  D.  Babnett,  The  Operation  of  the  Initiative,  Refer- 
endum, and  Recall  in  Oregon  (1915).  A  helpful,  intenrive 
study  of  these  important  questions. 

l^u^<,^'  2^°«°"^/*«  Referendum  in  Amerim 
(1912).  The  most  satisfactory  and  comprehensive 
work  on  the  subject.    Also  discusses  the  initiative 

J.  R.  Commons.  Proportional  Representation  (1907) 
The  standard  American  book  on  the  subject. 
r-?'/,^',^"°°^*  ^"^Ptixm  in  American  PMict  and 
W  (1910).    A  surv^  of  our  political  pathok)gy. 


'i'l 


INDEX 


Abolitioniito,  in  Bepublicmn  par- 
ty, IS  "^ 

Adanu,  John,  FedeMliit  candi- 
date.  n-tt;  contest  over  elec- 
tHm,   134;  appomtmenta  bv 

A^au,  J.  Q.,  elected  Ftaident. 

Adanu,  Samuel,  igo 

Albmy  Argui,  S. 

Albmn  Journal,  Its 
Albaiiy  Regency,"  SO-Sl,  184 

Amencan  party,  10, 17 

Amea,  "Doci''  Lon  of  Minne- 
apolu,  111-14 

Ames,  Qakes,  of  Mass.,  42-44 

'Andrews  Jury,"  108 

Anti-Federalist  party,  in  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  4- 
types  composing,  4;  becomes 
^Jemocratio-Republican  party, 

Anti-liasonic  party,  19-17,  23 
April  Grand  Jury,"  I1S-I4 
Armstrong  Committee,  124 
Articles  rf  Con/ederaUon,  3 
A^bridro      "Starwmd-Stripes 
Sam,'  Mayor  oTphiladelpBa. 


K 
Astor,  J.J.,  7( 

Bibcock.  O.  £.,  45-4« 

"«>li,  V.  S,  Jefferson  <TOosed  to, 

7;  as  political  issue;  1^-11 
Beech^,  H.  W.,  78 

Bdl,Jolui.l4 


Belmont,  August,  81 

Borie,  A.  E,  Secretary  of  Navy, 

Breckinridge,  J.  C,  IS 
Bratow.    B.   H.,  Secretary  of 

Treasury,  44 
Brooks,  James,  of  N.  Y.,  44 
Btyoe,  James,  quoted,  144 
Bucbanan,     James,     continues 

spoils  system,  185 
Buckley,  "Blind  Boss,"  of  San 

francisco,  107 
Bums,  W.  J.,  110 
Burr,  Aaion,  OS,  66  87 
Butler,  B.  P.,  Attomey-Geneial, 

^"m' ^' ^" °°"  ""  '^'^ ^""■ 

Calhoun,  J.  C,  IS 

California  enacts  law  to  protect 

primaries  {1866),  170 
Cameron,  Simon,  of  Fenn..  40 

41,  128-30 
Campaign  committees,  26,  ie»- 

167 
CMnphell.     Tom,     Bepnblicaa 


leader  m  Cmdnnati,  103 
CMnon,  J.  G.,  Speaker  of  the 
„  House,  144-44 
Cass,  Lewis,  17 
Caucus,  The;  20-22 
Chandler,  Zacharish,  41 
Chicago,      Munidiul     Voters' 

League,  178-77 
Cincinnati,  Jicpublican,  103;  ma- 

chme  rule  in,  103-05;  partial 

reform,  105-06 
1»7 


198 


INDEX 


M 
If- 
1  i 


CiMmtH  Eiminr,  lOS 
CitWi  (TOwUi  18«0-1«10,  St 
(note):  ««riy  gorenunuit  of, 
ra-^;  goTenuacnt  1840-lMI, 
M-A8;  oominiauoQ  and  city 
■uuutr  pku,  W;  mumdiwl 
•cUTitie^  S»-a»;  public  wr- 
nce  oocpontioni,  S9-W;  u- 
tanlintion  of  foragncn.  61- 
08;  period  of  municipa]  reform 
begun  (18M).  US;  era  of  the 
Grand  Jury,  115;  era  of  en- 
Ilgbtened  administration,  IIS- 
18;  bibliography,  191-98 
OUutn't  BuUettn,  109. 
City  Manager  phm  of  govem- 

uwnt,  lid 
Civil  Service  Act  (1883),    141, 

188 
Civil  aervkse  reform,  IS,  41, 139, 

188-89 
day,  Henry,  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent (1884},  9;  fonfas  Whig 
party,  10;  advocates  inter^ 
improvenc-nta,  II;  nominated 
for  President  by  Ky.  legisla- 
ture (1888),  88;  nominated 
for  President  (1831),  83;  de- 
nounces apoila  system,  188- 
83 
Cleveland,  Grover,  141 
Clinton,  DeWitt,  nominated  for 
President  by  N.  Y.  legislature 
(1818),  88;  Tammany  Hall 
against,  85;  helps  organise 
State  mach'  87-88;  sent  to 
Senate  88;  imes  Mayor 
of   New   V  Jity,    88-89; 

candidate  for  l:^sident  (1818), 
89;  becomes  Governor  of  N.  Y.. 
89 
Clinton,   George,    Governor  of 
N.  Y.,  tr-ta 

Colfax,  Schuyler,  Vice-President, 

"Columbian  Order,"  tee  Tam- 
many Society 

Commission  form  of  city  govern- 
ment, 116^  159 


Coagnm,  ekction  of  ScnaUn, 
135-96;  election  of  House, 
136,  148;  growth  of  Houses 
143;  power  of  Speaker,  14S- 
45;  poUtia  in  Senate  14»-4»i 
bibliograpby,  194-95 

Conlding^  B0SC04  140 

Connollv,  Tammany  member  of 
Board  of  Apportionment,  78, 
78-79 

Constitutional  amendments  pro- 
posed. 180 

Constitutional  Convention 
(1787).  3-4 

Constitutional   Union    party. 

Corrupt    Phi"*ices    Ads,    178- 

73 
Cox,  G.  B.,  Boss  of  CincinnatL 

103-06 
Cox,  J.  D.,  Secretary  of  Interior, 

40,41 
Crawford,  W.  H.,  candidate  for 

rkesidenqr,     9;    a    iM»-hiiw 

politician,    88;    competes   for 
__  nomiDatbn,  (1816),  38 
"Crawford  County  plan,"  170- 

71 
CrMit  Mobilier,  43 
Croker,     Richard,      Tammany 

leader,  81-88.  99,  84-85 
Cullom,S.  M.  jflll,50 
Curtis^  G.  W.,  187 

Davis,  M.  L,  05-66,  68 

Dawes.  H.  L.,  44 

Democratic  party.  Democratic- 
Bepublican  party  becomes,  9; 
success  of,  18;  Northern  and 
Southern  factions,  13;  after 
Civil  War,  14;  doctrinal  dis- 
tinction between  Bepublican 
party  and,  15-  IS;  first  national 
convention  (1838),  83^  84; 
methods  ol  voting,  84-85; 
appoints  permanent  national 
committee  (1848),  86-87;  War 
Democrats  support  Ijnooln 
(1864),  84 


INDEX 


I><me>ntia-IUpiiblku     nitr 

to.  9;  etget  to  limit  fedtnl 
Ppw.  •;  otynimioo,  «-7; 
pUtfonii,ricli«iige  of  attitude, 
■!  no  potmt  oiipontion.  8; 
OKomei    Democratic    party. 

Dix.  J.  A.,  SO-31. 
Dodgcv  W.  E.,  78 
Dott^  S.  A.,  IS 

Koonomfc  devdopuent  aft«  the 

QvU  War,  Kettta. 
Election    cuatonu^    niatory    of 

ballot  in  U.  S,  leo-sv'aa. 

™aen,  I«l;  legiitration.  141; 

ballot  reform,   U»-fS;   SUte 

cwtrol.  1SS-5B 
"En  of  Good  Feeliiub"  a 
Evart*  W.  M.,  re^ 

Faaeett  Committee,  at 
'Federal  Crowd."  138-49 
Federaliat  party,  nationaUita  in 

Coutitutional  Convention,  4; 

pcnonnel,  7;  holds  informal 

convention  (1789),  ts 
FUlmoie,  Millard,  17 
Fish,    Hamiltoo.    Secretary    of 

SUte^W 
KslcCk  Jim,  7< 
Flinn,  WilUam.  Boss  of  Pittsburg, 

Folk,  J.  V,    100, 101 

«w»l«r,  J.  B,  quoted,  49-^; 

faith  m  Rqmblican  party,  SO 
Four  Years'  Act,  181, 182 
BVee  Soil  party,  17 
IWmoot,  1.  C,  IS 
lUsbie.  T.  A.,  Editor  in  Minne- 

apolii,  lis 
Flmoo  movement,  in  New  York 

Gty  (WIS),  80,  177;  in  MU- 

waukee,  177 


190 


Galveston  form  of  dty  | 
ment,  tee  Commission  I 
dty  government 


ovem- 
i-m  of 


<:«ftM,  J.A,  lumetMl  of  fraud, 
44;  trouble  with  "■"HfiMi,  140- 
death,  141 

Gas  Ring  of  Philadelphia.  93- 

Goff,  J.  W,  a» 

i™dent,  S9;  his  cabinet.  S9- 
W;  diackisurce  of  oocmptioD 
during  administration,  42  el 

I      *•?••;  P«rty  machine  during  ad- 
ministration. 13S-S9 
Gn*y,  Hocace.  candidate  for 

Green,  A.  H,  79 
Greenback  parly,  17 

H^  A.  O.,  Tammany  mayor  of 

New  York  City,  7t,  79 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  S,  «,  ISO 
Harper  e  Weetlu,  76 
Harrison,  W.  H.,  elected  on  war 

record,  18;  apoala  system  under. 

Hsvemeyer,  W.  F.,  78 
Havemeyer.  H.  O..  quoted,  Its 
Hayes,  R.   B,  party  machine 

against,  13SM0 
Hearst,  W.  R.  147 
Henqf,  F.  J,  110 
Hour,  E.  H^  Attorney-General, 

Hoar,    G.    F.,    quoted,   48-4a; 

faith  m  party,  so 
Holtman,  J.  T,  Tammany  leader. 

70,  71,  9t 
Homestead  Act  (1888),  38 
Hoyt,  Jesse;  Tammany  leader, 

08. 
Hughes,  C.  E.,  124 
Hylan,  J.  P.,  Mayor  of  New  York 

City,  87 

lUinoij,  proposes  to  simplify 
government,  1S9;  choice  of 
t«ntral  Committee  in,  180; 
disfranchises  for  bribery,  ITS 

Independence  League,  147 


aoo 


INDKX 


Inli*iMi  adopt!  AubaBu  htl. 

lot  (I881I),  in 
Initiative  aod  lefmndum,  147; 

nbliograpby,  IW 
lonranca  companiai,  InvMtln- 

tioa  ia  N.  Y.  (180J),  lU-IS 
Iowa,  propowa  to  umpUr;  nv 

eroment,  U9;  choice  of  Ceo- 

tral  Committee  in,  IW 

Jackion,  Andmr,  candidate  for 
fteadency  (IMJ),  »;  elected 
Ptesident.  9-10;  vetoa  U.  S. 
Banlc  bill,  II;  oppoeei  internal 
improvemeota,  11;  nominated 
by  itate  kgiilaturas  (IStS), 
22;  nominated  by  Demo- 
cratic convention  (1832),  23, 
24;  introduces  new  political 
force,  32;  policy  in  appoint- 
ment], 181-82;  appointmenU 
by,  183 
Jackaonian     Democrdcy,     ue 

Democratic  party 
Jefferson,    Thomas,    leader    of 
opposition,  S;  quoted,  6;  as  an 
or»niier,  6;  elected  President, 
7;  Democratic-Republican  can- 
didate^  22;  policy  in  appoint- 
ments, 17ft-80 
Jeffersoniaa     Demociacy,     ue 
Democratic-Republican  party 
Jenckes,  T.  A.,  of  0. 1.,  188-87 
Jennings,  L.  L,  quoted,  7S-77 
Johnson,  Andrew,  33, 137, 142 
Johnson,  Uiram.  candidate  for 

Vice-Presidency,  149 
Jones,  George,  proprietor  of  the 
Times,  77 

Kelly,  John,  Hunmany  leader, 

80-81 
Kennan,  George,  quoted,  108-09 
King,  James,  of  William,  108 
Know-Nothing  party,  IS,  17 
Ku-Klux,SS 

Labor  party,  ue  Socialist  party 
I<exow.  Clarence,  82 


Ubettypartr,  U 

Unooln.  Abnham.  lewis  Bmib. 
Man  party,  14;  eleetodrai 
Union  ticket  (1884),  14;  at- 

ISlfto  "^  "*'"• 

Lottisviile    (Ky^    tA^t,  Aus- 

trslian  baUot  (1888).  IM 
Iaw,  Seth,  36 

McCall,  J.  A.,  qnoted.  123 

McDonald,  leader  of  Whiskey 
Ring;  43  —~v 

McLean,  J.  R.,  Democratic  lead- 

,  *  w  Cincinnati,  103 

MeManes,  James,  94 

McMastCT,  J.  B..  quoted,  27 

Macon,  Nathaniel.  180 

Madison,  James,  instrumental  in 
calling  Constitutional  Con- 
nnboib  3;  joins  Democratic- 
Republican  party,  7;  of  the 
Vunma  Dynasty,  8;  in  sUto 
MgishttURv  120 
Mage4  Chris,  132 
Many.  W.  L,  of  N.  Y.,  S3. 
183 

Maswchusetts,adoptsAnstralian 
banol(1888),Hj;eniSiiSu° 
lobby  law,  133;  bqpna  party 
reform,  182;  passes  civil  aer^ 
vice  law  (1884),  188 
Maset  Committee,  84-83 
Minneapolis  corrupt  poUtica  in, 

Minnesota,  proposes  to  simplify 
government,  139;  piimarv  law 
(190.),  171         '•'™»^»'' 

Mraissippi  primary  law  (1902). 

Missouri  enacts  law  to  protect 

primaries  (1873),  170 
M^lchel,  J.  P^  l&yor  of  New 

York  City,  88,  177 
Monroe.  James,  of  the  Virginia 

Dynasty,    8;    nominated   for 

Presidency  (1818),  32 
Montana    provide*   for   direct 

legislation  (IMM),  137 


INDEX 


901 


Moonqr,   WiOian,   ftwuder  of 

TMUBMur,  n,  «7-«8, 88 
Morgtii,  WlUiun.  1« 
MosutHalLTO 
Munidpal  macUiiM,  New  York 

CiuiiuMti,  IW-OS;  Su  Fku. 
citoo,    lOS-10;    MioiMMiolif. 

N»rt,  ThoDiH,  78.  7fc  77-78 
NtUanal  League,  187-88 
National  iVogranive  party,  148, 

174 
Navy  ooDOMd  by  Democfatic- 

nepubucaiu.  7 
Nevada  providea  fordiiectkgii. 

latioD  (1804).  187 
New  Jeney  enacta  law  to  protect 

pnmariet  (1878),  170 
New  York,  machine  politici  in, 
188-88;    propoaed    Conititu- 
Uon  (1818),  M»;  kg^  cKog- 
nition  of  nartiei  in,  168;  en- 
rallment   in,    164-88;   enacta 
law  to  protectprimaries  (1886), 
170;  number  of  election  lawi 
in,   173;  paaiea  civil  lervice 
law  (1888),  188 
New  York  Oty,  Tammany  Ball, 
88  tt  tef.!  naturaliiation  of 
fonignen,  81-88;  Committee 
et  Seven^,  178 
New  York  Civil  Servke  Betorm 

Aandatun,  187 
KtK  York  Etening  Pott,  178 
Nn  York  Tima,  78,  77 
Ntu  York  rriime,  183 
Nominationa,    85-88,     188-71- 
Ubliography,    194;    tee    aUo 
emaatat 

O'Brien.  Jamea,  77 

O'Conor,  Charles,  81 

Ohio     enacts    law    to    protect 

prunariea  (1871),  170 
Oklahoma    providea  for  direct 

legislation  (1807),  187 


Oliver,  B.  P.,  110 
Ongaa.  providea  for  direct  h«ia- 
latioo    (IMM),    187;    aUtute 


pi«>tecting  party  organiaatioo. 
IM-8S;  party  platfonna  in, 
188;  primary  law  (1804),  171 


^Uiurst.  Bev.  C.  H,  83, 178 
nrty  organisation,  national  con- 
ventions, 88-88;  SUte  Central 
committees,    88-87,    I9i-«l; 
conventions.  187. 188;  issuance 


of  party   platfonna,'  187-88; 
bibliography.  188-88 
Party  reform,  161  Huq. 


Party  system,  rise  of,  1  <(  tui.; 

phases  of  party  politics.  18-80; 

legal  reownitbn  of.  161 
Pattenon,  I.  W.,  of  N.  H.,  44 
Pennsylvania,  machine  politics 

■n.  188-88;  enacts  law  to  pro- 

tect  primaries  (1871),  170 
Peoples  party,  88-86 
Phijadelpliia,  most  "American" 

city,    83;    Gas   King,   83-98; 

Committee  of  One  Hundred. 

178-76 
Pierce,  BVanklin,  continues  spoils 

system,  188 
Pituburg,  machine  politics  in, 

Piatt,  Thomas,  of  N.  Y,  faith  in 
^rty,  80;  quoted,  80-sl; 
Republican  boas  in  N.  Y, 
184.  18S;  resigns  from  Senate^ 

Political  issues,  under  Jeffer- 
son. 5-7;  under  Jackson, 
Ij^ll;  slaveiy,  18-14:  cuirency 
(1896),  15;  ookinial  question. 
15;  war  with  Gomany  evaded 
as  (1916).  15;  dvU  service 
reform,  15,  41,  138.  186-88 

''"iali  ^  '^"^  system  under. 

Populist  party,  17 

President,  nomination  of,  88-83' 
method  of  electing,  183-35; 
powers  of,  135;  head  of  party 


MS 


fNMmtr-CoiilSinml 
MB;  poUtied  piwdbiUti«  b 
Jjjwi  of.  IMi  bibli.*.phy, 

Wofc  W.  M,  Xuainuijr  lexfar, 

WmarMk  I«»-«5,  170-71 

"MiUtioB  p«Hjr.  18 

'•  M.  a,  uty-n 

~r,  Jotulv  180 
B«;Un«.  J.  A,  Secnui,  rf  W«, 
B«4  T.  B.,  Spninr  of  Houm. 

"^r^i^^xS'insiSs 

of,  15;  majority  rule  in,  M; 
"■•uod  of  voting,  ti;  dainu 
tniamplu  of  war,  M;  retain* 
P~t«e,  «J  in  Philadelphia, 
M;  perfect!  committee  «ya- 
wlB,  187;  m  alia  Oemocratio- 


INDEX 


Bepublican  party 
g"*^  1-  F,  quoted,  45 
"Oiiuuie,  Benjamin,  87 
Boo«.velt,Theodore,  Police  Com- 
">>««oner  of  New  Yorlt  City, 
8S-«4;    avil    lervioe    reform 
mder.     Ml;    candidate    for 
ncndenigr,  140 
5^'*7'  J«nl,  quoted,  118 
HiJ^^te,  Bo.1  of  San  FV«,d«», 

St.  Louif,  home  rule  in,  08-09; 
fPoiUTM  of  corrupt  politiee 
in,  CO-IOS  i~"ui» 

Sm  FhmciHo,  incorporated 
(1850),  108;  "ConaofidatSn 
Act,  108-07;  reoeiTea  new 
«*»rter  (1000),  107;  oorruu- 
tionu.  108-10 
iS^*?-C..  General.  48 
**™**Mayor  of  San ftanoro, 


Schttti,  Caii,  117 
fooSo'il,  G.  W..  of  Ana..  M 
|«wt  W.  a,  17,  IM 
Seymour,  Horatiow  81 
SUjepr,  18-14. 88 
Soeialiit  party,  18 
'Sons  of  UtMrty,"  (,  88 

Sou  of  St  Tunmaor."  88 
South    DakouTproSdee     for 

*™ot  leiidation  (1888).  1*7 
Bpola    qntem,    bnnnins    <t 

»-?0:  in  N.   yTZB  Si 

Ointon*  88-88;  under  Gimnt. 

«I-4t;  rin  and  faU  of.  178 

Mtq. 
State  goTamment.  dir«!t  legia. 

lation,  157-58;  need  of  & 

phBcation,  150;  bibliocraphy, 

StiJf'J!?  ff  State 'l^i't!™ 
SUta  kgialaturea,  ori^uil  now- 

•TMIOHW;  ool'api^fidSin. 
utrative  functiooa,  Ml-tf; 
lobbyuta.  iga-cg,  detamune 
njtljod  of  choo^  electont 
184-85;  choice  of  u!  S.  Sena^ 
lore  bv,  185-80;  people  lab 
control  of.  155-58;  volunteer 
wbbyisti.  156-57 
u  S'  ■''w'"*  Doctrine  of,  up- 
held by  Jeffenon,  8;  aiainat 
improvemento  by  federj  aid, 

Stewart,  A.  T.,  30 

Strong.  W.  L..  Mayor  of  New 

York  City,  88 
Suber.    William,    Govemcr   of 

N.  Y.,  188-88 
Swartwout,  Samuel,   nmmanv 

leader,  68 
S™W  ^B,  Tammany  leader. 

Taft,  W.  a,  105, 141 

Tammany    Ball,    itarta    State 
convention,  85;  fint  muaiapal  - 
™»™ine,   87;  hiitory  of,   M 
fjg^-"    '"Pe«hM    Sulier. 

Tammany  Society,  68-65,  88 


M 


'*nfd.    IS;   coatmuet  ipoUi 

™^  J,  74,  78,  81 
»B|>kuu,  OaoM,  of  N.  Y^  SI 
^  putjr,  in  EngUnd.  1;  ia 

AmjiMB  oolooieii  I 
Ivwd,  W.  M.,  Tftouiiaiiy  iMdar 
M.TOilmq.  ' 

jntdmat,  7>-«0 
lyler,  John,  Mtianft*  WUo, 
11;  ipoilt  urtton  oader,  IM 

Utah  prorida  for  direct  lanila- 
tion  (WOO),  1st 

Tu  Boren,  Mmrtin,  nominnted 
byR«.Soap«rty(1848),  17; 
diwipic  of  dinUn,  SO;  an. 
pointniat  m  Minittcr  to 
Grwt  BriUia  not  coofinued, 
18S;   perfects  ipoils   tyttan, 

V«n  Wydt.  R.  C..  Miyor  of  New 

York  City,  S8,  84 
Virginia  Djmaaty,  8,  H,  SI-SJ 

W»ring,G.W.,Cobnel,8S 
Wuhbume,  E.  B.,  Seoetary  of 
State,  40 


INDEX 


MS 


WuUa(t«i,Gear|nlattara78^ 
8:  praeidw  over  Coutitationai 
Convention,  4;  wami  aaUnrt 
partixauliip,  S;  nnanunoue 
duin  of,  5,  tl;  dectioo,  184; 
appoutmenu  by,  178 

WeUla;  Durfel  is,  18S 

Weed,  Thurlow,  lSt-«8 

WUitparty,  in  Ensluxl  1;  in 
*'''"'l«»n  odooiei,  (;  new 
party  formed  by  Clay.  10; 
end  of,  18-13;  natiouJ  coa- 
voition  (1881),  IS;  majority 
rule,  84 

Wbulwy  Ring  diKJoeuree  (1874), 


WUtman,  C.  S,  Governor  of 

W.  y.,  174 
Wilion,  Heniy,  Vioe-Preeident, 

Wirt,  William,  17 

Wieconain.  primaiy  in,  ISA- 
choice  of  Central  Committee 
in,  188-07;  party  platfomu 
"t  187;  primary  law  (180S). 

Wirter,  Owen,  quoted.  S8 
Wood,  Fernando,  0»-7aL  81 
Wright,  SUai,  30 


